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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27809728">inFAMOUS: A Haught's Tale</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dorianmcgrath/pseuds/Dorianmcgrath'>Dorianmcgrath</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/stingingscorpion/pseuds/stingingscorpion'>stingingscorpion</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Wynonna Earp (TV), inFAMOUS (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst, But there are some redemption arcs, Eventual Smut, F/F, I know it isn't everyone's cup of tea, InFamous AU, Multi, Nicole has superpowers, OT3, Polyamory, Slow Burn, Smut, Super Angst, Waverly is an NSA agent, Wynonna doesn't make good decisions, but please give this a chance, did i mention slow burn? cause its gonna be a while folks, please be patient with me</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 17:00:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>27,820</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27809728</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dorianmcgrath/pseuds/Dorianmcgrath, https://archiveofourown.org/users/stingingscorpion/pseuds/stingingscorpion</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>All Nicole Haught remembered that day of The Blast is waking up in a crater, then running for her life. </p><p>Her entire life changed that day. Now donning the ability to manipulate electricity, Nicole must answer to the cost of this new found power and all the responsibilities it comes with. </p><p>Or, </p><p>Nicole Superpower AU, a Poly story.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Nicole Haught/Shae Pressman, Rosita Bustillos/Wynonna Earp, Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught, Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught/Shae Pressman, Waverly Earp/Shae Pressman</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>66</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Blast</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hi! Hello! </p><p>Wow it has been a while since I've posted, eh?</p><p>Well I got a story for you!</p><p>This project has been in the works for a while, and StingingScorpion and I are very excited to present it to you. It definitely is gonna be a long one. </p><p>Things to know about this AU, </p><p>It is based off the Playstation exclusive series, <i>inFAMOUS</i>. To those who have played, it is gonna be based off of 1 and 2, not Second Son. So yes, Nicole will be taking the Cole Mcgrath storyline, but loosely. I manipulated it to where it wasn't a direct copy, and that there was a happy ending for most. </p><p>If you haven't played, no worries! You won't need to have a played the game to understand what's happening. Though I may throw in a few references here and there. </p><p>This turned into a big learning experience for me, since I am still new to this rodeo of writing. I want to thank my dear friend Stingingscorpion for being a great mentor for writing, calling me out when I am using confusing tense writing, and just being excited for this project as I am. </p><p>StingingScorpion will be writing some chapters later one as well, so make sure to give her some love when the time comes. </p><p>Anywho, here we are with this AU I have been dying to release. Also, I made a playlist! It used to contain the game's soundtrack which was absolutely groundbreaking for it's time. Unfortunately, some issue took all of the soundtracks of inFAMOUS off of Spotify so I will have to resort to YouTube links to just... get you guys to listen to this MASTERPIECE of a soundtrack. It would make me very happy. <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/14cucYU2xLfAssJIcoWABd?si=RuByRmfxQm2z3TtUYdWQyw">Here is the playlist.</a></p><p> </p><p>  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tv1AHs6-cfE&amp;t=529s">Here is the link to the Soundtrack of the Original.</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Anyways, here is our labor of love. Well, the first chapter of it. We hope you enjoy.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <i>"Nearly all men can stand the test of adversity, but if you really want to test a man's character, give him power"</i>
</p><p>
  <i>- Abraham Lincoln</i>
</p>
<hr/><p>Everyone feels it at first. </p><p>It started with a rumble, deep in the ground that sent the buzzling Empire City into a tense silence for a few seconds. Next was the light, blinding folks that were near the blast before they were incinerated. </p><p>Then the eardrum shattering <i>boom</i> was next, causing the entirety of Empire City to pause for just a second. </p><p>Then panic. </p><p>People furthest from the blast ran in several different directions, not really understanding where it was all coming from. </p><p>But the people in the Historic District weren't so lucky. </p><p>No human feet could outrun the blue dome of crumbling electricity that continued to grow and grow, shooting cars and other debris out into the air, landing in the adjoining islands of Empire City. </p><p>The dome grew and grew, now large enough for all to see. Some ran, some stood in shocked silence, waiting for the dome of destruction to hit where they were. </p><p>Then it stopped, just as quick as it all started, vanishing. Sucked back in the center like a vacuum, just leaving the destruction of it behind. </p><p>And stuck in the center, amidst the embers of heat and ruins, is Nicole Haught. </p><p>----------------------</p><p>She hears a gruff, withered voice among the darkness. </p><p>“Activation plus six minutes. Pulse is forty-five, respiration ten. Looking good, <i>‘Cole.”</i></p><p>----------------------</p><p>Nicole gasps awake, the sudden intake of smoke ridden air burning her lungs. She coughs, squinting her eyes shut and crying out from the shockwave of pain. </p><p>She folds into herself, or at least attempts to but the dead weight of her limbs kept her from doing so. </p><p><i>Something is definitely broken</i>, she thinks. </p><p>She feels heat around her, like sitting too close to a campfire. </p><p>She chances opening her eyes, only to see a blur of red and some orange. She blinks several times, trying to ignore the fresh pounding in her head in ringing in her ears.</p><p>Her vision returns slowly with each blink of her eyes, and once it does, she wishes she hadn’t woken up at all. </p><p>Here sits Nicole, a circle of asphalt surrounding her, in the middle of a large crater that was once the Historic District of Empire City.  </p><p>Is this a dream?</p><p>The pain sure didn’t feel like it. </p><p>Nicole looks around, too shocked and confused to feel the popping in her neck. The sky is thick with smoke, giving off a red hue.</p><p>But what was more frightening, was how deadly quiet it was aside from the crackling of the various fires in vehicles and in the crater itself. Skyscrapers, ones that she passes regularly with regular everyday purposes had all their windows blown out. The tallest one in Empire City, The Spire, has a large hole in the lower floors, and the top of it is <i>leaning.</i></p><p>What is happening?!</p><p>Nicole can barely take in the horror of the city’s destruction before hearing chopper blades increasing in volume. </p><p>“Oh God, there’s someone alive down there,” came the tinny voice projecting from the helicopter’s speaker. </p><p>Then the overwhelming brightness of the spotlight shines directly in her eyes. She holds her hand up, trying to shield her eyes from the pounding brightness.</p><p>”If you can walk, head to the bridge!”</p><p>Suddenly, a crash from the nearby parking garage that is barely hanging on its last leg takes the pilot’s attention. </p><p>”Hey! You!”</p><p>A mangled car falls from the second story of it, exploding once it hits the ground, but what keeps Nicole’s attention on that second story is a random light that illuminates a shadow of a tall figure, looking directly at her. Or… at least that is what it feels like. It definitely adds to the creepy factor of this dream her brain has conjured up. </p><p>”Get the hell out of there!” the voice commands from the helicopter. ”The whole place is coming down!”</p><p>Nicole watches the helicopter fly in the direction of this mystery shadow person, who is now running off into the distance.</p><p>
  <i>This whole place is coming down!</i>
</p><p>Dream or not, Nicole needed to <i>move.</i></p><p>“C’mon, Haught. Move. <i>Move.</i>” she groans. She forces her body to comply, slowly rising to her feet. She tries to ignore the gore that scatters her body, with blood caking the large holes in her clothes. </p><p>There was time for that later. She needs to go. No use dying here. </p><p>She takes a step with her right leg first, screaming in pain again. Her right knee definitely has something wrong with it. The joint feels like it’s rubbing against bone. </p><p>No, this isn’t the time to cry about it. </p><p>“Gotta go,” she tells herself, hoping the pain will reside as the adrenaline kicks in. </p><p>She moves, slowly but surely, following a path of less deteriorated asphalt as she could. Her mind races, trying to catch up with what exactly happened here. The pain in her legs, the pounding in her head, it’s too real. Too lucid. </p><p>She limps her way out of the crater, sighing at the blocked road that leads to the Freemont Bridge. Nicole looks to her right at the parking garage across the street, from where the mysterious shadow appeared. She shakes that odd feeling, and heads up the ramp. </p><p>She continues on, keeping a safe distance from the exposed, flickering sparks of some wires in a control panel nearby. She hugs her side as a new internal pain comes in like a tidal wave, until the crack of the electricity amplifies, shooting out to where Nicole is standing.</p><p>Nicole feels the strike all throughout her body, starting from her arm that was closest to the panel. The wind is stolen from her lungs, and her muscles scream. It’s almost like they’re ripping apart, but yet suddenly coming back together again. </p><p>Nicole has never been shocked before in her life, aside from a few carpet zaps one does as a kid. She never dealt with live wires, or anything that required a professional certification, but Nicole <i>does</i> know she wasn’t close enough to garner an electric shock directly at her like <i>this.</i></p><p>Nicole also knows a shock of that <i>magnitude</i> should be enough to kill someone. She looks down at her hands, panting from the residual pain, gasping again once she sees arcs of lightning still travelling around her arms before they faded away into nothing.</p><p>“I should be dead,” she pants, still locked on her hands. She clenches her fists once, twice, twisting them and marvelling that she can still move them and feel it. </p><p>She checks herself, wiggling her toes and slightly bending her knees to see if anything stopped working. Satisfied she has full functionality, despite that one knee, she sets off for the bridge, deciding to determine the strangeness of it all when she is in a safe location.</p><p>She continues, passing by more mangled cars and crumbled concrete. The center of the building was blown out from the blast, only being held together by a large concrete pipe. She thanks her free running skills in this situation, knowing how to balance her affected knee as she jumps down, and crosses without much trouble. She reaches the other side, now able to see the bridge she needs to get to. She takes another step, but suddenly a worrying shake and roar in the parking garage has her widening her eyes in fear. The concrete above her cracks instantly, and Nicole tries to back away from it. Nicole reacts in time to avoid the car that falls through the ceiling, but she wasn’t fast enough to avoid the small explosion that sends her flying backwards. </p><p>She lands on her backside, the air knocked out of her. Some residual concrete falls from the hole of the upper floor and Nicole uses her forearms to shield her head, unable to do much else. It doesn’t feel nice, but it has her mind spinning as the last of the debris falls, none of it shatters her bones or breaks skin. Another strange event to add to the list to freak out about later. </p><p>She rises slowly, then weakly pats some of the dust off her mangled clothes. It doesn’t do much. </p><p>Nicole walks around the car that almost fell on her, and finally reaches the other side of the parking garage. She looks out. </p><p>The Neon District, the place she has called home for the past several years doesn’t look much better with just a quick glance across the river. Some long, dark pillars of smoke are at different buildings, and that red hue among the sky continues as far as she can squint. </p><p><i>This is a dream</i>, she thinks, <i>I’ll wake up soon. I just need to get over there.</i> </p><p>She takes a step toward the edge, but is immediately stopped by another crackling of sparks nearby. Nicole cranes her neck toward the source, spotting the flock of loose wires that hang from the ceiling, probably from where a light used to be. She takes a step back, deliberately trying to avoid getting shocked again. </p><p>But it seems electricity has a mind of its own. Once she takes a step out of the way, the lightning arc of the strike hits her again, but this time, way more intense. </p><p>Her spine bends backwards in the most unnatural way, and her fingers <i>crack</i> with a shattering grip. Nicole screams until it cracks her throat. </p><p><i>Push through it,</i> she blearily tells herself. <i>It’s just a dream.</i></p><p>The electricity continues to travel, dancing along her arms and legs as it did before. She feels it deep, every spark etching along her skin. </p><p>
  <i>Push through.</i>
</p><p>With a surge of stubborn strength, Nicole bends back over. She grits her teeth, just trying to will herself to feel less of the pain there. Pushing… </p><p>The electricity doesn’t fade, but it does <i>leave,</i> or rather shoot out from her chest on to other shattered lights in the parking garage. What happens is an overload, lightning traveling between a light and a parked car. </p><p><i>Boom!</i> </p><p>The car must have had enough accelerant in it to explode on the spot. Nicole shakily raises her arm to shield her eyes. The impact of the explosion shatters the remaining loose rubble, leading to the floor around it, crumbling and falling through. </p><p>"What is happening to me?" Nicole breathes as she lowers her arm. </p><p>The parking garage starts to shake, more loose concrete falling from the ceiling as some of the supports give way. </p><p>"Move, Nicole," she orders herself. She does, jumping down the hole that was just created, landing on top of the car to save some of the impact. She sprints off as best she can, cursing as she hears the top of the building begin to collapse. She rolls on the ground to keep some of the impact off her knee, but the debris on the ground digs into her back. <i>Fuck that hurt…</i></p><p>She takes a deep breath and gathers herself, dusting her ruined pants off like it would change anything. Then the parking garage finally gives way, falling into a mushroom cloud of dust and cars. </p><p><i>I was almost in the bottom of that,</i> Nicole thinks. </p><p>Not that it matters, since Nicole already determines this is a dream. No harm can come to her. </p><p>Right?</p><p>She’s deep in slumber, with her girlfriend tightly clinging to her front. </p><p>But those chopper blades sound too real. The spotlight now shines briefly in her eyes as it continues its rounds around the blast zone. </p><p>”If you can walk, please evacuate to the Neon. Remain calm, help is on the way,” the man in the helicopter orders. </p><p>
  <i>Right. If I just get to the bridge, this nightmare will be over…</i>
</p><p>She walks. Luckily the structure is only a short distance away, less than a block. Being a bike courier gave her impressive knowledge of the three islands of Empire City. It’s terrifying now, passing by deteriorated skyscrapers that were once coated in marble and windows. She passed by these buildings on her bike daily, sometimes in a blur depending on the deadline. </p><p>It’s all dead. The city is dead. </p><p>Nicole shakes her head, <i>No, it’s just a nightmare. Just need to…</i></p><p>She rounds the corner, stopped dead by the flickering lights of police cars and ambulances. The smoke is still thick in the air, letting the lights travel far and beyond. </p><p><i>This isn’t real…</i> </p><p>She limps forward, determined to just get to the end of it. </p><p>But as she nears the chaos of the bridge, the slow burn of reality settles deep in her gut. The scent of blood is the first to hit her senses. That thick, coppery, bile-rising scent has Nicole suppressing a gag as she slowly walks closer. Next are the cries of agony, and the orderings and shouts of different emergency officials. She just walks through it wide eyed, wondering how her brain could have conjured all of this. It’s too elaborate…</p><p>White sheets with red stains line the road, paramedics sprinting past her to reach other injured folks. The circus of it all passes around her in a blur.</p><p>Too real…</p><p>Nicole is shoved towards the bridge by an officer with a horrified look on his face, barking orders to finally go. Only then does she get to take a look at the now brittle bridge with exposed metal supports. It is bare, no cars or other people walking across it. A complete contrast to the traffic she’d bob and weave through on her bike. </p><p>“Nicole! Over here!”</p><p>Nicole would know that voice anywhere. She frantically scans the other end of the bridge, spotting her leather jacket wearing best friend frantically waving her arms around with wide blue eyes. </p><p>Wynonna cups one of her hands over her mouth to project her voice, “Nicole! Get your ass moving! They're gonna raise the bridge!”</p><p>
  <i>Oh, shit. Don’t want to be trapped here.</i>
</p><p>Nicole carries on towards Wynonna, but as soon as she takes that first step, lightning from both sides of her, seemingly out of nowhere, hit her at once. This pain is unlike any other this time. The furious buzzing of energy coursing through her, contracting her muscles impossibly tight. She wonders how her teeth don’t crack from how hard she clenches her jaw. The <i>sound</i> of it all is too frightening as well. The deafening roar of the arcs of lightning hitting her arms shield her from whatever is going on around her. She can’t open her eyes either, too overwhelmed by the pain. </p><p>Nicole is so tired, and this new hit feels like it stretched on longer than it should. It pisses her off. She just wants to get home, or rather out of this dream and wake up and <i>get it over with.</i></p><p><i>Crash!</i>  </p><p>Suddenly the electricity hitting Nicole stops, and one thick lightning strike from the sky hits the bridge just a few feet from her, lingering for a few seconds. She shoots her eyes open, stumbling backward from the shock of the overcombersome light. Her scream is outshined by the roaring <i>boom</i> of the thunder. </p><p>Before she could even react to that, another hits behind her. Then another. </p><p>Both lingering for a few seconds before disappearing. </p><p><i>Lightning doesn’t do that…</i> </p><p>Nicole has seen her fair share of lightning. Living in the city gives her a fair share of different buildings struck during heavy storms. </p><p>But they don’t <i>linger</i> like that. </p><p>
  <i>Is this fucking War of the Worlds?!</i>
</p><p>Another hits behind her, but this time it hits a still-working police car. Luckily she was out of range to not be affected by the explosion that follows, but the people around it definitely weren’t so lucky. </p><p><i>”Run!”</i> A scream in Wynonna’s direction startles her. It wasn’t from her best friend, rather it was the panicked ridden shout from her girlfriend, Shae. </p><p>She doesn’t need to be told twice. Once she finally gets her footing, Nicole <i>moves.</i> She sprints across the bridge, having to hop over some places that were blasted through. </p><p>However, the further Nicole runs away, the <i>boom</i> of the lightning never ceases. She chances a look over her shoulder, gasping at the fact the lightning is <i>following</i> her. Better yet, little arcs of it trails off and into her arms. She barely feels it. </p><p>
  <i>Oh God ohgodohgod!</i>
</p><p>"It's the fuckin’ terrorists!" Wynonna screeches. “<i>Run</i>!”</p><p>Not like Nicole wasn’t sprinting already. Her bad knee is somehow forgotten, but the bridge never seems to end. Nicole’s breath pounds in her ears. She barely notices the world around her turning into a fishbowl of darkness. She huffs her way through her suddenly constricted breath, heartbeat pounding in her ears. </p><p><i>Just a little bit closer…</i> </p><p>Her legs feel like lead weights, just trudging along until an unknown goal occurs. Nicole feels that darkness plunge in her consciousness, her knees wobble. </p><p><i>"Cole!"</i> Shae cries out. </p><p>Finally, she reaches Wynonna and Shae. However when she does, her mouth doesn't cooperate. Her legs give, landing knee first onto the ground. As she loses consciousness, she barely recognizes the lightning has stopped as well.</p>
<hr/><p>When Nicole slips out of unconsciousness this time, it’s more of a gradual awakening. Her eyelids are like lead, fighting her attempt at opening them. She twitches her fingers with a groggy effort. The sounds of ruffling sheets and a steady beeping slowly wash into her senses as minutes pass. An intrusion in her nostrils is what she feels next. </p><p>Her twitching of fingers and eyelids seemed to have gathered the attention of whomever is in the room due to the sudden sound of a shift on fabric and footsteps. </p><p>“Nicole?” comes a hesitant whisper. </p><p>Shae. </p><p>Nicole feels her warm hand softly encircle her forearm. She can only whimper in response. </p><p>“It’s me, baby. I’m here.”</p><p>Another whimper. She tries again to open her eyes, only managing to see little cracks of light. Her head doesn’t budge, either. Nicole feels as if she had gone on a weekend splunder with Wynonna, which usually ends with a head full of watery pain and no recollection of the past few days. </p><p>“I’m here too, HaughtRod.”</p><p>Speaking of Wynonna. </p><p>“HaughtRod” was a new one. </p><p>Her eyes finally give, blinking slowly a few times to rid the blurriness. She squints, even in the low glow of light.</p><p>She can make out the two figures in the room. Shae is on her right, still holding on to her wrist, now making slow circles with her thumb. Wynonna stands at the edge of the bed, <i>her</i> bed Nicole realizes, with her hands shoved deep in her pockets. Nicole takes in her room, noting how the blinds were shut tightly with an additional thick curtain she doesn’t recall her or Shae putting there. The only light in the room are candles scattered on various surfaces, and some wires are sticking out from her shirt. She follows them to their source, seeing a battery operated EKG emitting those soft beeps she’s been hearing. It seems normal. </p><p>“What happened?” Nicole grounds out, voice rough and cracked.  </p><p>Shae and Wynonna look to each other, determining who would be the one to answer that question. </p><p>"What's going on?" Nicole tries again. It just now occurs to her the irregularity of the situation, why there would be a battery powered EKG instead of her just being in a hospital. Or why the lights were off… or why--</p><p>Nicole shifts, panic settling in. </p><p>Shae's hand moves up to her chest, gently blocking her from getting up. </p><p>"Hey, take it easy, you’ll mess up your bandages,” Shae orders softly. </p><p><i>Bandages?</i> </p><p>Nicole’s body is covered to her chest with her sheets, but she can feel the annoying prickliness of adhesive on her legs, head and overall torso. </p><p>“Do you remember what happened?” Wynonna asks. </p><p>Nicole pauses, brow crinkling in thought, “I remember…”</p><p>
  <i>Pain, flashes, the electricity surging through…</i>
</p><p>“Um… I remember running,” Nicole grunts. </p><p>“From?” Shae prompts. </p><p>“I-I don’t know…” Nicole’s breathing quickens. </p><p>
  <i>Smoke filling her lungs… Red hues in the sky from the fires… Screaming…</i>
</p><p>The frequency of the monitor increases. </p><p>“There was this voice,” Nicole continues. “Real gruff and… I dunno, old?”</p><p>“Who was it?” Wynonna asks. </p><p>“I don’t know. They seemed to know me, though. They said ‘looking good, Cole’. Anyways I wake up and then… I think… there was an explosion?”</p><p>Wynonna huffs, “No shit.”</p><p>“Wynonna,” Shae warns. </p><p>“I mean… It was all a dream right?”</p><p>Silence. </p><p>Shae and Wynonna look at each other with shadows over their eyes. </p><p>Nicole starts to panic. </p><p>“Guys?”</p><p>Shae takes a deep breath, “Cole, a lot has happened since you’ve been out.” </p><p>“No,” Nicole snaps. Her whole body now stands with alertness. She shifts again, despite Shae’s incessant hand. </p><p><i>There was no way.</i> </p><p>“Nicole,” Shae warns softly, “you need to stay still.”</p><p>“No,” Nicole says again with grit teeth and more denial. She struggles to get up. </p><p>The EKG declares some warnings Nicole doesn’t recognize. Shae's hand firms. </p><p>"You need to stay calm, Cole." </p><p>How in the living fuck can she stay calm?!</p><p>Nicole gasps for air, burning anew. </p><p>She remembers the lightning, the alien nature of it. How it surged through her, the impossibility. </p><p>All the death…</p><p>The strange yet familiar prickling of energy that occurred when she was hit by electricity comes again, and Nicole’s stomach drops. </p><p>It was real. </p><p><i>All of it.</i> </p><p>Nicole decides she needs to <i>move</i>, to run, to get out--</p><p>She reaches for the EKG pads on her chest to rip them off. She can hear the flickering and cracking of the energy manifesting. </p><p>The lights start to flicker. </p><p>The monotone beeps now screech in intensive warnings. Nicole <i>sees</i> the sparks come to life. </p><p>As Shae tries to stop her from moving, Nicole pushes her arms off. </p><p>Shae screams. </p><p>Nicole reels back, and lets out her own shout as she sees little sparks of electricity manifesting in her own hand. </p><p>Shae grips her forearm where Nicole touched her and looks to Wynonna. “Get the sedative!” she hisses.</p><p>Nicole panics, not just from the seemingly impossible nature of how that electricity isn’t hurting her, but the fact that she hurt <i>Shae.</i> Nicole barely notices Wynonna sprint off to the table with different medications, and grabs a full syringe. </p><p>“No!” Nicole shouts again, not entirely sure what she is shouting at. Maybe the electricity, or the thought of being sedated again. She tries to get off the bed, but her defiant, heavy limbs refuse to budge. </p><p>Wynonna flips the sheets off of Nicole’s body to expose her legs. Nicole gasps at the cast covering her whole leg, and the purple and yellowish bruises that plague her other leg. Wynonna, a take no prisoner type of woman, barely gives her any more time to react and stabs the needle into her upper thigh with one hand, and with the other she holds down Nicole’s attempted thrashing. Shae backs up and assesses her own wound.</p><p>Nicole wants to scream, but what comes out is a confused and scared whine. It's all too much. </p><p>Shae reappears behind Wynonna and coaches her aside. She places her palm on Nicole's chest again, gently keeping her still. "Shh, honey. Don't fight it. We’ll be here when you wake up, okay?"</p><p>Nicole doesn't reply, rather she is too focused on the hand shaped burn on Shae's forearm, red and angry. </p><p>Like clockwork, the darkness becomes overwhelming. She slips away with a lone, hot tear running down her cheek.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Alright! What do you think?! I know it's super ominous so far but please be patient with us. I promise it'll work out in the end. </p><p>This chapter was more of an Epilogue, more of how the game works. You're just kind of like. Wuh? Mind you in 2009 time, the epilogue was super awkward and weird, but we are tryna work with what we got, people. </p><p>Catch us on Twitter. </p><p> </p><p>  <a href="https://twitter.com/RJAwritesathing">StingingScorpion</a></p><p> </p><p>  <a href="https://twitter.com/DorianGrath">DorianMcgrath</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. 14th Day of Quarentine</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello! almost a month later oops. </p><p>A posting schedule?! In this economy?!</p><p>All joking aside I do apologize for the delay. I've been working hella hard for the Holidays so it's been tough to write. </p><p>A couple of things for this chapter.</p><p>It's two weeks after the Blast, so we got a recovered Nicole here. </p><p>We got some violence in this chapter. </p><p>LOTS of WynHaught fun. </p><p>One thing about this game I adore the most is the soundtrack (you will hear me crying about it every chapter), and one of the most ICONIC moments in the game is when you are first introduced to the Reapers. The MUSIC! SO, I will provide a link to YouTube for the song since it's still not on Spotify. I highly recommend a listen while Nicole deals with her first encounter. You can find it <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR4uAfOAUkc">Here!</a></p><p>Anyways. Hope you guys had a great Holiday season!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Nicole stares at the running water of her sink. She almost puts her hands into the stream to splash cold water on her face to rid her of her funk, but stops when she reminds herself of the white hot pain that travelled when she first touched the stream. She blew out a few lights with the surge of electricity spewing out like wild spurts. Sparks flew, screams were heard, but it was easily fixed with a lesson learned. </p><p>Today marks the 14th day since the Blast. The news calls it the Empire Event, since the reason for such an explosion is yet to be determined. It has been two weeks since the strange, <i>new</i> occurrence of the ability to manipulate and generate electricity occurred in Nicole’s life. At first, she ran from it. She denied the new reality she lived in, including the state of Empire City itself. Shae and Wynonna, who didn’t have the convenience of falling in and out of consciousness for a week slowly adapted to the new world they lived in. </p><p>The Blast hit the city hard. Thousands died upon the blast, and in a few short days people died from their injuries of collapsing buildings and fires. </p><p>The government was a joke. Instead of helping a dying city, they just closed off the bridge leading to the outside. Told the world a plague had struck. </p><p>In reality they just caged them all, leaving them stuck in there with the gangs that ran everything now. </p><p>Wynonna, ever the conspiracy theorist, already had a hidden stockpile of food and homemade batteries that may explode when used. She spends most of her time pointing out the lies the government tells the public outside of Empire City. It’s not like anyone could correct it, all calls in and out of the city are blocked somehow. Wynonna blames the government, Nicole tells her to remove the tin foil from her head. </p><p>Shae lost her best friend Noah. </p><p>Hell, almost lost Nicole if it weren't for being an EMT and a medical student. </p><p>But Noah was a lifetime friend. One you live through too many life experiences with to ever let go. </p><p>She couldn’t even call her parents about it, or let them know she’s alive. Nicole doesn’t have anyone to call. </p><p>Shae carried out her grief by focusing on keeping Nicole alive and helping others when she could. Nicole in her bleary memory of the past few weeks doesn’t really recall seeing Shae sleeping. </p><p>Though, with the way the bags under Nicole’s had deepened over the past two weeks shows she hadn’t either. Not that she could help it. Everytime she closed her eyes she saw Shae’s pained expression when she burned her. The way Shae screamed and held her arm close to herself. Or how the scar that remains is a palm print that exactly matches Nicole’s right hand. </p><p>Nicole hurt her,<i>marked</i> her, and it felt like agony. </p><p>She grips the edges of the sink with a sigh. </p><p><i>It wasn’t your fault,</i> she’d say. </p><p>Nicole wouldn’t reply and pull away. </p><p>Nicole twists the knob on the sink and continues her routine. Avoiding any other reflecting surfaces, she quickly dresses in her track cargo pants with a white line going down the side that turns into a star near the knee. Next is a black long sleeve to cover the marks that litter her skin. She pulls her signature biker jacket on, one that has a black interior with yellow patches along the zipper line, back, and tops of the arms. The front yellow panel has some faint designs of stripes and sun rays, but those have faded through years of wear. </p><p>Nicole pulls her maroon beanie over her head, double checking in the mirror it covers the prominent scar on the side of her head. The natural cold weather of Empire City allowed her to wear it constantly without an excuse. Everyday Shae and Wynonna give her flack with the outfit choice, but with this quarantine, it’s hard to shop for a beanie whose color didn’t clash with yellow. </p><p>Next are her leather gloves. After the incident with Shae, Nicole made sure her hands were covered with this new power. These gloves are an added barrier to prevent her from hurting another again. </p><p>With the zipper snug against her neck, and her sling backpack with the tiny button that says “pussy” in fancy letters firmly in place, Nicole is ready for the day.</p>
<hr/><p>Nicole pushes the heavy door that reads “Roof Access” with a grunt. It isn’t hard to spot Wynonna. She usually perches on the worn couch that once upon a time Nicole and her screamed at each other over when they climbed that heavy ass thing up the four flights of stairs. Wynonna is sprawled out, looking at an outdated magazine with minimal interest. </p><p>“Surprised you’re not watching TV,” Nicole greets as she walks over. Another ridiculous and heavy piece of furniture that Nicole and Wynonna brought up to the rooftop. It’s not that their apartment was actually on the rooftop, they just made the space something of their own. The landlord threatened to sue Wynonna over it, but a swift punch to the nose changed that conversation. </p><p>When asked why the two had gone through all that work in the first place, even going as far as placing string lights and a table, Wynonna would simply say “I like the fresh air.”</p><p>As if the heavily populated city provided any. </p><p>“Eh,” Wynonna waves her free hand without taking her eyes off the magazine, “batteries are dead again.”</p><p>Nicole raises a brow, “you know the city has had the power on for a while. You don’t have to use your sketchy homemade batteries anymore.”</p><p>Wynonna slaps the magazine to her chest in offense, “I’ll have you know, I am environmentally conscious. My batteries are saving the planet.”</p><p>Nicole chuckles, “Whatever you say, Earp.”</p><p>Wynonna rolls her eyes, “Speaking of, you wanna charge them? I gotta get my boob tube on,” then picks the magazine back up, scratching her stomach a little. </p><p>“Well,” Nicole reluctantly takes off her gloves, “glad it’s good for something” she says as sparks flicker to life on the palm of her hand. </p><p>“Charge all of ‘em,” Wynonna waves to the three sketchy battery stations scattered throughout the rooftop, “the TV is a hog.”</p><p>Nicole sighs and rolls her eyes, yet heads to the first one. Each battery station had three “Earp Batteries” with difficult wire configurations, and at the end of it had a little post with an LED indicator of battery life. The light blinks red every few seconds. </p><p>Nicole reaches for that energy in her palm again, and shoots a bolt of electricity towards it. Instead of blowing up, the LED indicator changed to a yellow. She shoots it again, now to a green. </p><p>Nicole’s own surprise was interrupted by Wynonna’s unenthusiastic thumbs up and sarcastic quip, “Got two more, don’t pay you to sit around.”</p><p>She frowns, “You don’t pay me at all.”</p><p>Wynonna lowers the magazine and smirks, “Just in my charm.”</p><p>“Your charm needs some help,” Nicole quips before heading to the second battery station. She walks, but notices the strange surge mannequins with sticks duct taped in their hands scattered around the rooftop. “The hell is with the mannequins, Earp?”</p><p>“Self defense!” Wynonna shouts in reply.</p><p>“Where did you even--” Nicole begins, but stops herself knowing that Wynonna would barely give her an answer. </p><p>Instead she just heads to the next battery station and fills them with surprising ease. </p><p>She looks at her palm and watches the sparks come to life, then closes her fist again to cut it off. This is a drastic difference compared to a week ago. Sometimes the electricity would come to her in spurts, and go away when it wanted to. Now she has better control of it.  </p><p>"Aye!" Wynonna shouts in triumph. “Boob tubes a workin!”</p><p>Nicole snorts and walks over to the couch. She stops at the edge and half rests there, taking out her palm to mess with the sparks again. </p><p>“You good?” Wynonna asks, eyes not leaving the cartoons playing on the TV. </p><p>“Yeah just…” Nicole frowns, “feels like it’s… getting stronger.”</p><p>“O’yah?” Wynonna crunches on some chips laid out on the withered coffee table. “‘Ou can zap da 'annequins” she gulps the large handful down, and reaches for another handful. “That’s what they're there for.”</p><p>“Okay,” Nicole breathes. </p><p>She heads to the closest mannequin to the couch. Three of them are lined up with various bits of clothing right near the edge of the roof. </p><p>Nicole is about to question where the hell she got these, or how she found the time to dress them up, or even ask where these random clothes came from, but stops herself again. In this quarantine time, she probably doesn’t want to know the answer. </p><p>Nicole manifests the energy in her hand and aims it towards the mannequin on the right. The electricity in her hand <i>shoots</i> with such ferocity it singes a hole in the blue coat it is wearing. The wooden stick falls to the ground from the impact of the hit.</p><p>“Woah,” Nicole breathes after the wooden stick stops clanking. That was a lot more power than she anticipated. </p><p>Wynonna lifts up from the couch, “Damn dude, you could barely power a light bulb a week ago.”</p><p>Nicole looks down at her palm again as if the answers would lie there. “Yeah…” she sighs, “pretty wild.”</p><p>Wynonna flops back on the couch with a gleeful cackle, “That rocks so fuckin’ hard dude! Fry the other ones!” </p><p>“Alright," Nicole aims her hand at the middle mannequin, and gives it the same zap as before. It garners the same result as before. Wynonna makes some motivating hoops and hollers from the couch, magazine in hand and feet propped up. </p><p>Nicole continues down the line and experiments a little. She uses her left hand and varies with different arm movements, like flickering her wrist, or “throwing” the bolt like a fastball. She finds that she is quite ambidextrous with this power, and after firing off a couple of bolts in succession, it feels like a somewhat workout. Like going on a mile run, but taking her time. She pants. Her muscles uncoiled and loose.</p><p>She wriggles her fingers, all functional still. Nicole hums in thought. </p><p>"Well damn," Wynonna rises lazily with a stretch, "you really did fry ‘em."</p><p>"Yeah," Nicole chuckled, "definitely put them to better use than advertising shitty clothes."</p><p>Wynonna grinned triumphantly, "That's what I thought, too!”</p><p>Nicole’s responding laugh is cut off by a slow rumble. They look to the right at the source, and gasp at the huge military supply ship flying dangerously low. </p><p>“Where in the hell did that jackass get their pilot’s license?!” Wynonna shouts over the rumble of the jet engines. </p><p>“Beats me,” Nicole shrugs, “better yet, why <i>was</i> there one in the first place? That thing was a supply plane, wasn’t it?”</p><p>Wynonna just shrugs. Not too long after, the TV that was playing cartoons makes an annoying feedback sound that she immediately recognizes. She flops back on the couch, “Hey it’s the TV jacker! I love this guy.”</p><p>The screen fizzles out and momentarily flashes that error screen with multiple bars with colors, then a second of static. The TV Jacker, or "The Voice of Survival" as he calls himself, appears on screen. A tall, lanky man with dark skin and long hair. He hides his identity with a black bandana covering his face, wearing a regular white T-shirt, and his thick framed glasses make it hard to see his eyes. The background logo is black with a large red painted face with gears around the mind, and below are three letters, VOS. No one really knows much about him, other than the heavy anti-government and conspiracy messages he hacks the local television stations to spew. No wonder Wynonna loves him, she eats that shit up. </p><p>After a few glitchy frames ease out, the man goes straight to business. </p><p>“Just got word that the feds dropped some relief packages over in Archer Square. The <i>liars</i> running the corporate media say that we are gonna get <i>our</i> fair share? That more is coming?” He scoffs, “Yeah, that’s easy for them to say. <i>They</i> aren’t the ones living in this hellhole! The truth is, that we’ve been <i>abandoned,</i> and no one is coming to save us.”</p><p>The screen glitches again a little, his voice distorting, “So head over to Archer Square and get some food before the Reapers show up.” He walks toward the camera, about to turn it off before giving his signature send off, “Voice of Survival, out.”</p><p>The screen fizzles out again, as the TV returns to its regularly scheduled cartoons. The silence only lasts for a few seconds before Nicole smugly adds an, “I told you they’d drop food.”</p><p>Wynonna rolls her eyes, “Bro you must be out of your mind. You really think the bastards up on their high horse give a <i>shit</i> about us? This is a PR stunt and you <i>know</i> it.”</p><p>Nicole still smirks, “That isn’t going to stop you from pigging out though, is it?”</p><p>“Hey now,” Wynonna points a barely offended finger, “an Earp’s gotta eat.” She tightens the laces on her boots, pulls out her dumb gold framed aviators and heads for the door. Nicole doesn’t follow. </p><p>“I’m gonna…” Nicole looks to her right, at the small space of the rooftop edge that isn’t surrounded by a wired fence. “Take the express elevator,” she finishes. </p><p>Wynonna stops her walk to the rooftop door and looks over her shoulder. “Shae is gonna kick your ass,” she warns. </p><p>Nicole walks over to the edge and peers down, “She’ll be alright.”</p><p>Wynonna mocks her with a higher pitched voice, “She’ll be alright,” then heads toward the roof entrance.  </p><p>Now, if Nicole were a normal person with normal bones and pain tolerance, jumping off a five story building wouldn’t be on her list of things to do on a normal day. However, in the two weeks Nicole was recovering, she mentioned to Wynonna that simple things like stubbing her toe on furniture or walking into a wall as her clumsy self often did, not hurt anymore. </p><p>Well, that turned into the two unintentionally recreating one of those viral Russian videos of shirtless muscular men beating each other with various objects like chairs and nailed wooden planks and chugging vodka. </p><p>If it weren’t for Wynonna hitting her with a wooden chair and it not even breaking the skin, Nicole wouldn’t even <i>consider</i> this jump. </p><p>But as Nicole peers over the edge, those meesely five stories look a hell lot more like twenty. She gulps.</p><p>Hell, if Miles Morales can do it, why can’t she?</p><p>
  <i>No, completely different situation. He had webs to keep him from hitting the cold hard ground.</i>
</p><p>Also Nicole isn't a teen with the fate of different universes in her hands. </p><p>Nicole is just an idiot about to jump off a roof. </p><p>She takes a deep breath and lines up her toes to the edge of it. </p><p>Long way down. </p><p>Then again, in the wise words of Wynonna Earp, </p><p><i>Fuck</i> it. </p><p>She slips off with confidence. But as the wind picks up in her ears, and the ground creeps up quickly, she considers this may have been a bad idea. </p><p>Okay, maybe a really bad idea. </p><p>She quickly runs her free running skills through her head. </p><p>Long falls, collapse the knees, distribute the impact. </p><p>
  <i>I can do this.</i>
</p><p>The passing wind is almost deafening now. She focuses.</p><p>Before she knows it, her feet hit the ground. The sound of impact is a big <i>thud</i>, as some disturbed dust waft out around her. </p><p>She waits. </p><p>No pain, no cracks. She doesn't realize she shut her eyes until she cautiously moves to open them. There she stood on the ground, knees slightly bent and panting. </p><p>She survived. </p><p>Nicole lets out a victorious laugh as she brushes off her pants, "Now <i>thats</i> what I'm talking about."</p><p>Now that she is down on the ground, the stench of an unmaintained city enters her nostrils like a slap to the face. In the two weeks after The Blast, the city has pretty much shut down. All the street scrubbers, trashmen, and any others that kept Empire City clean have ceased their duties. Hospitals, police stations, or any other public buildings were raided almost immediately by those with too much firepower and not any courtesy to share. Leaving people like Shae to volunteer with little to no supplies, breaks, or sleep. </p><p>The other unfortunate circumstance is with essentially anarchy and sickness occurring, no one is getting paid to clean up the bodies that litter most streets. The smell is unforgiving, and the citizens had to quickly adjust. </p><p>Nicole rubs her nose to the burn of it. Quickly after Wynonna busts out the apartment door A huffing and sweaty mess. </p><p>“Running down five flights of stairs to catch up to your rooftop jumping ass is utter donkey balls sucking bullshit,” Wynonna wheezes. </p><p>“Was that a sentence?” Nicole asks. </p><p>The Earp cusses a few more colorful terms between gulps of air, then replies as she rises up. “Listen, I don’t have the damn <i>luxury</i> of surviving a jump that high. You can get off your high horse.”</p><p>“You didn’t have to <i>sprint</i> down, numbnuts.”</p><p>“Don’t tell me what to do,” Wynonna grumbles. </p><p>Nicole is about to give her another dry reply until her phone rings. She flips Wynonna’s stuck out tongue then looks at the caller ID. </p><p>“Hey Shae,” Nicole answers. </p><p>“Hey,” Shae breathes into the speaker, sounding tired, “how are you feeling?”</p><p>“Pretty good, actually,” Nicole replies. Wynonna nods her head in the direction of Archer Square to get moving. Nicole nods and starts walking. </p><p>Shae, always the observant one, “Why do you sound surprised about that?”</p><p>“Um… well,” Nicole fumbles, “I zapped some mannequins on the roof and I feel alright!” </p><p>Shae, all too knowing, “...<i>And?</i>”</p><p>Wynonna’s smug “I told you so” look she throws over her shoulder looks very punchable right now. </p><p>Nicole sighs, it’s not like she could hide anything from her anyhow, “I may have… <i>jumpedoffaroof</i>” she mutters. </p><p>“You <i><b>WHAT?!</b></i>”</p><p>Even Wynonna winces from the loud tone.</p><p>“I’m fine, I promise!” Nicole hurries to reassure, “No broken bones, and there was no pain--”</p><p>Shae cuts her off, “What the hell were you thinking?! How could you have possibly known you wouldn’t get hurt from falling that high? You could’ve <i>died!</i>”</p><p>“I just… I dunno I just knew it would be alright,” Nicole shrugs again. She knew it wasn’t a solid answer. She opens her mouth to continue babbling other excuses but some commotion from Shae’s end keeps her from doing so. </p><p>Shae sighs, she sounds exhausted. “Just take it easy, okay? After what happened to Noah, I just… I <i>can’t.</i>”</p><p>Nicole sighs, too, but with a heavy weight of guilt. “I know,” she whispers. </p><p>More commotion and voices trying to get Shae’s attention. She rushes to end the call, and Nicole knew this would be a conversation for later. “I have to go, see you guys at Archer Square. I <i>love</i> you.”</p><p>Nicole clings to her phone, the abrupt end of the call has her wanting to apologize, or to grovel, and beat herself upside the head for not even thinking about all the things Shae has lost, but instead all she whispers is, “I love you, too.”</p><p>Shae hangs up, and Nicole sadly puts her phone in her pocket. She’s used to phone conversations being cut short due to Shae’s job, but in this weird time, Nicole clings on to any contact she can get. </p><p>Even if she pushes her away while doing so. It’s complicated. </p><p>Wynonna looks at her after Nicole puts her phone away. One of those expressions she gives when she is about to say something that will get a punch to the arm. </p><p>Nicole narrows her eyes in warning. </p><p>Wynonna speaks anyways, “You two haven’t boinked yet, have you?”</p><p>There it is.</p><p><i>”Earp,”</i> Nicole grits. </p><p>“Oh don’t growl at me, you two are strung tighter than a damn clothesline."</p><p>Nicole moves to deliver that well deserved punch, but she stops once she reminds herself to put the gloves back on. She hurries to do so and decides to brush the comment off, but Wynonna doesn't seem to get the hint. </p><p>"I mean the tension between you two can be cut by just me breathing on it."</p><p>Nicole smirks, "That's because of your horrid breath."</p><p>Wynonna squints in offense, “Rosita thinks my breath is just fine, thank you. Besides, how long has it been since you two touched? Did some hanky panky?”</p><p>Nicole is immediately defensive, “Last time I touched her, I hurt her, Wynonna. I won’t make the same mistake again.”</p><p>The Earp rolls her eyes, “Yeah, but that was…” she pauses to step over some trash, “when you were half dead and barely able to control it.”</p><p>“I’m not going to risk it,” Nicole snaps. “Besides, don’t you have a whole not-relationship to focus on instead of my own sex life?”</p><p>Wynonna raises her hands in surrender, “Listen, I am just looking out for you, and to answer your stupid question, Rosita and I aren’t in a relationship as I’ve told you a thousand times before. I don’t--”</p><p>“Do relationships I know,” Nicole finishes for her, “but you two have been acting like it for almost a damn year, Wyn. Why don’t you just--”</p><p>Wynonna is the defensive one now. “Drop it, Haught.”</p><p>Nicole puts her hands up to drop the subject, yet is internally relieved that the subject of her own love life is no longer in the air. A couple years of being close to Wynonna gives her the knowledge of knowing exactly how to push Wynonna’s buttons in her favor.</p><p>Nicole is an only child, and never really knew what it was like to have a sibling to love yet to hate at the same time. She considers Wynonna the closest thing to it. </p><p>“Hey,” Wynonna prompts after a block of silence, “before we get to Archer Square, I need to pick up a new six-shooter.”</p><p>Nicole groans, “Here we go.”</p><p>Wynonna waves it off, “Nah, I’m not upset about it.”</p><p>Nicole scoffs, “Upset?! That thing nearly blew my hand off! I should be the upset one.”</p><p>"Hell I aint no physicist! How was i supposed to know your sparky hand was gonna ignite the gunpowder?"</p><p>Nicole is almost impressed, "I'm surprised you even know what a physicist <i>is</i>."</p><p>Wynonna narrows her eyes, "I know what a physicist is you <i>dick.</i>" She punches Nicole’s arm at the word “dick”.</p><p>Nicole laughs and rubs her arm, “I dunno, you <i>did</i> think a meteorologist was as a dude who played with meteors all day." </p><p>"That was one time!" Wynonna exclaims. When Nicole doesn't stop laughing she decides to punch her again. What happens is an all out chase between the two. Dodging broken glass and giving each other noogies as they cackle down the block.</p><p>With these two, it's easy to forget the state of the world they live in. They are louder than a woman crying for the loss of her loved one, and louder than some gunshots heard in the distance. </p><p>“You know what this reminds me of?” Wynonna asks after she takes some gulps of air from laughing. </p><p>“What?” Nicole laughs too as they slow down to a walking pace.</p><p>“The time we were leaving Shorty’s, and that beat cop tried to get me for public intoxication.”</p><p>Nicole cackles again, “When you flashed him to get away?” </p><p>“That idiot was so flustered we got away in old Besse,” Wynonna finishes the memory. She sighs wistfully, “Now we gotta walk everywhere.”</p><p>“Hey, I didn’t know it was gonna explode like it did,” Nicole grumbled. She puts her hand over her heart, mourning the loss of Wynonna’s old Ford Bronco. "May she rest in peace.”</p><p>"Hear hear." </p><p>----------------------</p><p>“You know what I miss?” Wynonna asks after a few blocks of silence. </p><p>Nicole hums in question. </p><p>“Pizza. Greasy nasty slices of pizza. And payday.”</p><p>Nicole chuckles, “I’d settle for some hot water.”</p><p>Or the ability to shower. Nicole has been getting by with baby wipes and lots of deodorant but she misses the long, steam heavy showers that allowed the mind to wander. Or the intimacy of sharing a shower with someone. </p><p>Showers with Shae… </p><p>Staying in there with lingering hands and mouths until the water gets cold. </p><p><i>Damn, it’s been a while.</i> </p><p>“Aye!” Wynonna breaks her moment by snapping her fingers in front of Nicole’s eyes. “Earth to Lightning Rod.”</p><p>Nicole clears her throat and shakes her head a little. “What?”</p><p>“I <i>said</i> we are getting close to my new baby.”</p><p>Nicole scrunches her face, "I really wish you wouldn't call it that."</p><p>They round the corner of the street to a small parking lot surrounded by other buildings. There are five spaces, all filled with banged up cars. </p><p>“Aw, fuck!” Wynonna exclaims. “The guy said he was gonna leave the gun under a car here. He didn’t mention there would be <i>several</i> of them.”</p><p>“Dude there’s not that many we could just--”</p><p>Wynonna shouts into the heavens with all the dramatics she can muster, “We’ll never find it! I shall be gunless for the end of my days!”</p><p>Nicole sighs and hides her face from any onlookers of Wynonna’s tirade. She continues stomping around and doing her thing. </p><p>Nicole, however, has a different thought. Back on the roof and the mannequins, Nicole remembers the feeling of zapping the dummies to crisps, how it felt when the energy exited her body. That <i>feeling</i> of power rushing through her veins. </p><p>But something bothers her. It didn’t feel like it was all she could do, all she could <i>try.</i></p><p>Nicole grabs Wynonna by the jacket, interrupting her dramatics. </p><p>“Stand back, I got an idea,” Nicole orders. </p><p>“Uh oh,” Wynonna replies, “you get that tone when you’re about to do something stupid,” She crosses her arms, ready for the show. </p><p>Nicole rolls her eyes and positions herself in front of the first car. She already knows that just bending down and looking under cars is definitely the easiest solution, but with Wynonna’s laziness and Nicole’s itch to try something new, what’s the harm?</p><p>Back on the rooftop, Nicole used only one hand at a time to shoot things. What if she used both? </p><p>So she takes off her gloves, and sets to do just that. She takes a deep breath and brings the electricity in her palms. She clenches her fists, and shoots them out. </p><p>What happens is just her shooting the car with both hands. She frowns.</p><p>Wynonna heckles behind her, "What are you gonna do, zap it to death? I think that'll make our problem worse."</p><p>"Fuck off," Nicole throws over her shoulder then focuses again. </p><p>Instead of letting the energy zap out of her palm, this time she <i>pushes</i> it. </p><p>
  <i>Whoosh!</i>
</p><p>The car flies through the air and does a couple of flips, spewing out broken glass. It lands two spaces down, upside down on another parked car, making the metal groan and windshields shatter. </p><p>Wynonna and Nicole stood there in stunned silence, watching the two cars wobble a little from the residual force in the suspension. </p><p>Nicole, after using so much force lets out an exhausted breath. </p><p>Conveniently, the car that Nicole upended is the one that had the gun underneath it. Wynonna immediately runs to it and examines it in all her beauty. Nicole, however, isn’t feeling too hot. </p><p>"Woo! Well hot fuckin' doggy!" Wynonna rolls the cylinder of the six shooter, satisfied with the gun with the enormous barrel that was left for her. She walks back over and slaps Nicole’s shoulder. She almost falls over. "Hell I didn't know you could do anything like that--hey you doin' okay?" She grips Nicole's arm to steady her. </p><p>Nicole nods weakly, "Yeah, yeah… there was this… surge."</p><p>"What?"</p><p>Nicole's brain is thick and foggy. It feels like all that energy she pushed onto the car, exited her body as well. </p><p>She feels… <i>thirsty.</i></p><p>
  <i>Drained.</i>
</p><p>"You don't look so good…" Wynonna frowns from her side. “I mean, worse than you normally do.”</p><p>Nicole blearily looks around, looking for somewhere sturdy to lean on. Yet her eyes keep landing on the breaker attached to the building.</p><p>“Hang on a sec…” she breathes, and walks towards it. It’s something she can’t explain, but she feels a pull there, like an ice cold glass of water in the middle of the desert. She reaches out her hand originally for stability, but as she draws near, the electricity inside the breaker <i>travels</i> to her palm. </p><p>When it hits, Nicole doesn’t feel pain. It travels throughout her body, tingling the muscles deep within, but instead of that agony she felt two weeks ago, she feels awakened by it. </p><p><i>Healed</i> by it. </p><p>Once she seemingly gets her fill, the connection breaks from the breaker, and Nicole is left breathless. </p><p>“Did you see that?!” she gasps, looking to Wynonna.</p><p>“Did you just <i>recharge</i>?! Dude you’re like a walking fuckin’ battery!” she slaps Nicole’s shoulder again. </p><p>“Yeah…” Nicole stares shocked into her palm. She wiggles her fingers, all functional. “I feel… <i>better?</i>”</p><p>“Is that a question?”</p><p>Nicole shakes her head, “No it’s just… strange. Anyway, what’s with the definitely not compensating for something gun?”</p><p>Wynonna beams as she raises her revolver and strokes the long barrel, “Oh this old thing? I traded one of my homemade batteries for it.”</p><p>Nicole widens her eyes, “The batteries that <i>explode</i> when you use them?!”</p><p>Wynonna grins wider and shrugs noncommittally, “He doesn’t know that. I think I’ll name her Peacemaker. Just like old Wyatt Earp.”</p><p>“Dear lord,” Nicole pinches her brow with her thumb and forefinger. </p><p>“Come on, Sparky,” Wynonna slips the gun into her boot, “we got brewskis to collect.”</p><p>----------------------</p><p>Once Nicole and Wynonna finally reach Archer Square, their eyes land on the massive hundred foot tall structure of a gold plated muscular man holding his fists together. Surrounding it are circular beams, spiraling down the man’s torso. Since The Blast, the previously pristine statue has some metal panels missing, and the spiraled beams used to reach the bottom of the base. The man’s left arm is exposed, as well, showing the metal skeleton.  </p><p>Now, a white and yellow striped parachute covers the two fists, and just below it hangs the care package pallet, holding on by just a single hook hundreds of feet in the air. People are already gathered around the structure, hungry and defeated that the first care package is totally out of reach. Some are attempting a climb, but the marble base of the structure proves too slippery. Nicole looks up and contemplates.</p><p>Wynonna nudges her, “What do you think?”</p><p>Nicole sighs, looking around the area for possible routes, “It’s a long way up.”</p><p>“Well,” Wynonna shrugs, “you <i>are</i> the one that could possibly survive the fall.”</p><p>“Yeah yeah, I know,” Nicole waves Wynonna off, “I’ll get it.”</p><p>“Yeah well, be careful and all that.”</p><p>Nicole flips her off before heading to the flag pole nearest the base. Wynonna is right, Nicole is possibly the only person that could survive a fall hundreds of feet in the air, but she is probably the only one in the area with the ability to <i>climb</i> that high. </p><p>She reaches the top of the pole with ease, and shimmies around it to where her back faces the second tier of the structure. She lets go with one hand, steadies her feet on the pole, and <i>jumps</i>.</p><p>The fall is about ten feet, nothing spectacular. She rolls on impact. By now the crowd is taking notice of the tall woman climbing up the death trap of a statue. </p><p>“Look! She’s climbing up!” someone shouts. </p><p>“Got more balls than I do,” another says. </p><p>“You got this, SparkyTits!” Wynonna calls, never failing to embarrass her. </p><p>Nicole ignores the following queries from the people below. Instead, she focuses on her pathway up. She takes advantage of the exposed panels on the core of the statue and clings on. Her plan is to get high enough in the center, and jump on one of those circular beams that surround the statue, and balance her way up. </p><p>She digs her feet in, exhales, and jumps hard to grab on to the next panel, a couple of feet up. Nicole just barely gets her fingers to grip the thin metal, but she makes it. She goes a little higher to make sure she can make the jump to the surrounding beams that were about ten feet out. Same as the flagpole, she lets go with one hand and calculates her jump. She knows she can survive it, but like any jump she’s done before, there is still a height ridden anxiety that spurs when she sees the distance of the drop. It’s equally thrilling and terrifying. There are supports that reach out to the spiral around the statue, so it should hold Nicole’s weight, right?</p><p>Nicole just goes for it instead of questioning the physics further. She lifts off, and the fall doesn’t last long. She lands with both feet on the beam, and reaches out both arms for balance. The whole thing vibrates and groans from the impact, but doesn’t break. It gives Nicole confidence that it will hold her in her ascent upwards. She moves quickly, only slipping a couple of times when she encounters some pigeon shit. The higher she climbs, the sounds of the city dampen, and the wind blows some hair in her face. She circles the statue once, but sees there is a gap in her route, presumably from The Blast. She curses under her breath, but after looking at it for a couple more seconds, she realizes she can make it with a little bit of head start. The beam widens a little on the other side, so she will be able to get a good grip with both hands.</p><p>She skips the internal pep talk and takes two steps back, then <i>launches</i> with a grunt. As she’s in the air, she realizes she didn’t give herself enough force. It’ll be a close one. She reaches out, but only her left hand lands and sticks. Her right hand slips, and Nicole hands there with just four fingers. She hears some gasps from the onlookers below. She smirks at them, knowing that if she did fall, she wouldn’t be harmed. Though for those who didn’t know her strange condition, it could be terrifying. So she waves at the crowd and smiles, she always did like to show off. They cheer in response. </p><p>Then she quickly lifts her hand back on that ledge and hoists herself up. The beam shakes a little and creaks with her movements, but if she acts quickly she shouldn’t have to worry about it falling. She walks up the spiral, one foot after another as she focuses on her weight distribution. </p><p>As she continues to ascend, Nicole notices about halfway up that she hasn’t felt fatigued from the exercise of climbing up a hundred foot tall statue. Ever since The Blast, she abstained from heavy physical activity under Shae’s careful watch, so this climb should be somewhat difficult. </p><p>But it wasn’t. She’s able to keep a brisk pace all the way up. Interesting. </p><p>She encounters a new break in the spiral path, and quickly jumps over it as well. She lands on both feet, makes the structure groan again, then continues. </p><p>A couple more passes around the statue, and Nicole is finally up to the stuck pallet. On it is about seven unmarked, heavy duty boxes held down by straps. They all connect to a half broken hook, still attached to the parachute. The hook is strong, and the cargo looks too heavy to carry it down or even lift it to remove the straps. She makes a split second decision, and decides to just zap the hook to break it. </p><p>It’s successful, and the pallet immediately starts to fall. </p><p>“Uh oh,” Nicole watches the heavy pallet fall at a dangerous pace. She leans over the edge of the beam, and shouts, “Timber!”</p><p>Thankfully, the people catch notice of its descent and move out of the way. The pallet soon lands with a loud shattering of the wooden pallet, but the boxes seem intact. The people below cheer with glee, and Nicole crouches down on one knee to revel in her victory for a second. </p><p>Though it’s short lived. </p><p>She catches sight of a big group of red jackets with their hoods pulled up, sprinting towards the square carrying various firepower.</p><p>The Reapers. </p><p>During Nicole’s time in recovery, Shae and Wynonna would tell her the horror stories of these hooded figures popping up in groups after the Blast. These strange, faceless characters carrying an obscene amount of firearms would commit random acts of violence on people, and take necessary goods from them. Even in broad daylight, no one could see their faces beneath their hoods. Like an all consuming black hole. People who lived through getting close to one of them say sometimes The Reapers would just projectile vomit black sludge, and have a constant gurgling noise as they walk.</p><p>The word is that before the Blast, these guys were just a bunch of drug and arms dealers, street criminals. Now, they own the Neon District. </p><p>Taking whatever they want. </p><p>Nicole determines that ends today. </p><p>It’s not long before the gunshots and screams echo up to Nicole’s spot. The people below scramble to run. Nicole stands up and takes off her gloves again and stuffs them in her pocket. As if her powers could sense her preparing for a battle, electricity manifests in her palms. She smirks at them, greeting the vibration of energy like an old friend. She leaps off, and pushes more power into her hands. She isn’t sure what it’ll do when she lands exactly, but it certainly looks cool as the lightning follows her down. It builds and builds, until she finally hits the ground fists first. What happens is a shockwave of electricity and force, pushing out around her. It knocks over two Reapers in front of her, and she hears people behind her scream and grunt. She looks back, and notices the force knocked them over too. Nicole makes a mental note not to use this move unless she's sure there are no citizens around. </p><p>She yells out a quick "sorry!" to those who fell, then rises quickly to deal with the Reapers. She shoots one in the face, and the other one raises their gun and fires. It hits her arm, and she curses. She shoots the offending Reaper a couple of times out of anger, then checks her arm. </p><p>“Fuckin’ shit!” she grunts. There is a noticeable hole on her bicep where the bullet hit, is just barely broken, some blood pooling out. Miraculously, the skin there heals before her very eyes. </p><p>Nicole has fortunately never been shot before now, but seeing just the fading red skin remain of what usually is a death sentence for some, has her staring at it in disbelief. Her favorite jacket is ruined, however. Some of the adrenaline dies down, and Nicole realizes that getting shot for her felt more like a bee sting. That changes things. </p><p>“Haught!” Wynonna yells from behind the cover of the pillars of the arch on the bottom of the statue. “You good?!”</p><p>“Yeah!” Nicole yells back, rubbing the exposed skin, “You?”</p><p>Wynonna comes out, putting bullets in her gun. “Yeah,” she slips the barrel back in and spins it, then looks off to their right. “Got more comin’ in.”</p><p>Nicole follows her eyes, “Alright, I’ll go in first, you do cover fire.”</p><p>Wynonna just merely squints at her. </p><p>“What? I played <i>Call of Duty</i>. I know the lingo.”</p><p>“Whatever, dorkus,” Wynonna mocks, then nods her head in the direction to tell Nicole to head that way. </p><p>More gunshots are heard from the right as two other Reapers advance toward them. Nicole runs at them and fires off a couple zaps. One that's taller and thicker takes a couple more shots to get down. </p><p>The Reapers fire wildly and inaccurately, not even taking cover from Nicole's hits. Not that she is doing the same really, she kind of just charges head on like some sword wielding lunatic. She puts down another, and right as they fall, the Reaper spews some black tar out of the head of the hoodie. They gurgle a little before they quit moving. Nicole fights the urge to gag as the smell of mold and old death flood her nose so bad she can almost taste it. </p><p>"More coming to the left!" Wynonna shouts, and Nicole moves.</p><p>Nicole assumed correctly that if she went out in front and charged the Reapers head on, they would only fire at her. Wynonna hasn't taken a hit, but getting shot in the side isn't so nice either. She curses and grasps the wound, uses the other hand to keep firing. </p><p>One sneaks up behind her, and fires their shotgun directly on her right shoulder. She cries out. </p><p>“Haught!” Wynonna shoots the offender a few times and kicks them. “You okay?!”</p><p>Nicole doesn’t feel so great. Her vision blurs, and her ears ring. “Yeah,” she coughs. She tastes metal as she hunches over. Some slugs definitely hit her lungs. </p><p>Wynonna is suddenly in front of her, blue eyes wide and fearful. “Do you need more juice?”</p><p>
  <i>Juice?</i>
</p><p>Wynonna sees her frown, and just points to a nearby streetlight. </p><p>
  <i>Electricity. Right.</i>
</p><p>Nicole nods and slowly makes her way to it. Fortunately it’s only a couple feet away. She reaches out her hand, and hopes the electricity will come to her like it did before. From the glass of the light comes the arc lightning, directly into Nicole’s palm. Once it hits, it sourges through like last time, and Nicole takes a deep breath of fresh air. She feels her skin stitch itself back together. The process is a little painful, but suddenly it isn’t. She breathes deep, and hears little metal clinks hit the ground behind her. </p><p>“Damn dude that was gnarly,” Wynonna comments. She bends forward and leans on her knees, breathing the adrenaline off.</p><p>Nicole chuckles, “Yeah it was. I can tell you though, getting shot?” She shakes her head, “Not fun."</p><p>Wynonna rises up then walks behind Nicole, surveying. She pokes hard where the shotgun hit. Nicole slaps it away, "Stop that."</p><p>Wynonna ignores her and continues to try and poke, "And it just… healed?"</p><p>Nicole shrugs, "Guess so."</p><p>Wynonna grins, and stops poking the holes in Nicole's jacket, "Sick. Like a lesbian Wolverine."</p><p>Nicole grins back, "Right?"</p><p>They high five each other, but the moment passes quickly, as someone comes peeking around the corner. </p><p>"Are they gone?" asks the man. </p><p>Wynonna and Nicole look at each other, then around the square. No more signs of Reapers. "Guess so," Nicole says. </p><p>He exhales and grins in relief, then rushes to the boxes. A few more pop up tentatively, then rush over to try to get into them. All of them are struggling to pry them open. </p><p>Wynonna cracks her knuckles and twists her neck, "I'm gonna go help 'em. Seems like they need an Earp’s touch."</p><p>Nicole chuckles and rolls her eyes fondly. She crosses her arms tight over her chest and watches. </p><p>Though, watching more people gather to hopefully get a piece of the rations inside the military boxes, Nicole begins to wonder. Within the two weeks of quarantine, the big time government only sent a couple of measly boxes for a whole island of thousands of people. For some, this is the first bit of food they would be getting in weeks. This wasn’t enough for an entire island for more than a day. </p><p>There wasn’t even an announcement, just a drop. </p><p>How long is this going to last?</p><p>Is this the only island they even dropped to? What about the other islands without power still?</p><p>What about Shae, Wynonna, Rosita, and her? How long will their own rations last? How much will they be getting today? </p><p>The food there <i>would</i> last them a few weeks if it was just them there…</p><p>“I got one of them open!” said someone, “let’s eat!”</p><p>Nicole lets out a breath. She’s mildly startled by the thoughts that just passed through her brain, the thought of scaring some of them off with her newfound powers to save food for Shae and Wynonna. It isn’t right. </p><p>Wynonna scoffs, holding up a can and studying it, “These idiots sent us <i>canned prunes.</i> What the fuck are we gonna do with canned prunes?”</p><p>“Eat them,” Nicole tells her helpfully. There are a few people per box, and one by one people are able to get the boxes open. Some pull out canned goods, others pull out some MREs. What’s nice is, is that no one is fighting over anything. One person will reach in the box, and hand something to someone else. Everyone there got at least <i>something,</i> and a couple people thanked her for climbing the statue and defeating the Reapers. Nicole feels good. </p><p>“Cole!” </p><p>Nicole hears Shae call behind her. She twists around and grins, also relieved that Shae missed the action. </p><p>Nicole spots her immediately. Shae is jogging to her with her duffel bag full of medical supplies slinged over her shoulder. She wears her shirt with a red duct taped cross on the front and back to inform anyone she’s a medic, and there’s blood on it. Shae must have had a busy day. </p><p>As she runs closer, Shae’s own smile dampens as she takes in the sight of blood and holes on Nicole’s jacket. </p><p>“What happened?” Shae demands. </p><p>“Um…” Nicole stammers.</p><p>Wynonna, munching on her new can of prunes explains for her, “Dude, Sparkybutt here got the food down from all the way the hell up there, then came down and <i>boom!</i> blasted some Reapers on their asses, got shot--”</p><p>
  <i>
    <b>”WHAT?!”</b>
  </i>
</p><p>
  <i>Thanks, Wynonna.</i>
</p><p>“Well, you see…” Nicole tries to explain. She stuffs her hands in her pockets sheepishly. </p><p>But Wynonna cuts in for her, “Nah she just drained some electricity from that light, and she’s good as can be! Still an asshole, though.” Wynonna takes another bite of sloshy canned prune. </p><p>Nicole raises a brow at her in challenge, “You know you’re gonna have to shit like hell later, right?” </p><p>“Eat a dick,” Wynonna grumbles, then walks off. </p><p>“So it’s true then?” Shae asks after they have some more privacy. She grips her jacket and looks her over. “You got the food down? Fought off the Reapers?”</p><p>“I mean,” Nicole shrugs, “yeah. For the most part. I couldn’t just… let them take food people needed.”</p><p>“And you just… healed? After just taking electricity from that pole?” Shae surveys the holes in the jacket without touching Nicole’s skin. </p><p>“Yeah. All is good.”</p><p>Shae meets her eyes, and Nicole sees an immeasurable amount of conflict in her eyes. “You did a good thing today, but <i>god</i>...” Shae thumps her forehead on Nicole’s chest. She exhales and shakes her head, and Nicole fights the urge to wrap her arms around her. “What am I going to do with you? You can’t stay out of trouble for more than five minutes.”</p><p>Nicole smirks, “Guess you have to tie me up then.”</p><p>Shae rises then, matching her smirk, “That can be arranged.”</p><p>Nicole almost leans down to kiss her, but stops. The echo of the memory of Shae’s scream when she touched her still haunts her, so she doesn’t. </p><p>But <i>god</i> does she miss her.</p><p>Shae does too. The sadness in her eyes has Nicole’s heart dropping deeper in guilt.</p><p>Then, suddenly the distinct sound of the Voice of Survival hacking the feed of the emergency broadcast screeched the speakers of the streets. Nicole is happy for the interruption. </p><p>A large electronic billboard on top of a building across the street shows static, then the man appears on screen. Everyone turns towards it. </p><p>“Got something for you, Empire City. Just before the Blast, security cameras picked up someone holding a <i>bomb</i> in the Historic District just before it went off. You’re about to feast your eyes on the person who destroyed this city, and our lives. Someone from your family die? Well now you know who to blame.” </p><p>Wynonna, Shae, and Nicole all look at each other with differing expressions. </p><p>“If you know <i>anything</i> about her, let me know. We are gonna make her <i>pay.</i>”</p><p>Nicole frowns as the screen fizzles out again. Everyone there watches eagerly to see the face of the culprit of this massive shift in all of their lives. </p><p>The screen glitches again, then the black and white image of Nicole holding a strange circular object appears.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Woo! Wonder how Shae will react?</p><p>Or Wynonna. Or the people around them! Whatever shall they do!</p><p>I want to thank stingingscorpion for editing this chapter, and dreamwalking78 for agreeing to read through and make sure everything makes sense! </p><p>Be safe, ya'll.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Stampton Bridge</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello! Good afternoon!</p>
<p>How is everyone doin?</p>
<p>Little news on me, I got COVID from work! Woo! </p>
<p>Don't worry, I'm okay. Just pissed. </p>
<p>Got to write more, tho. So here you are!</p>
<p>Hope ya'll enjoy! Thanks RJ for bein patient with my sick ass.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Well.</p>
<p>Nicole called a terrorist is certainly a first. </p>
<p>All she remembers from that day is leaving Shae at their apartment, and then running for her life. </p>
<p>So many unanswerable questions pass through her mind as the image of her holding this… device flickers on that screen. Where did she get that package? Why would she deliver a <i>bomb?</i> Who set this up? Why? </p>
<p>Either way, Nicole must face the consequences of that day.</p>
<p>Starting with Shae. </p>
<p>Whatever they had together, is now gone. Shae just turns and walks away without emotion, not even a word. Nicole’s first instinct is to go after her, to explain, to do <i>something.</i></p>
<p>But Nicole knows far too well it’s pointless. </p>
<p>Noah was her life, and Nicole is responsible somehow for taking him away.  </p>
<p>And that painful realization has that painful agony rising up again, just as it did when she burned her forearm. A dry lump forms in her throat, and she struggles to swallow it down. </p>
<p>By then, people nearby, the people she got food for, start to recognize her. With the mixture of anger and resurfacing of old wounds on their faces, it’s about to get ugly. </p>
<p>She looks to Wynonna, and is surprised by the weird, suspicious look she gives her. Though this look is short lived, Wynonna snaps out of it and pushes her aviators higher on her nose. She says, “We should skedaddle, pronto-like.”</p>
<p>Nicole just nods, the storm of overwhelming emotion inhibits her ability to speak. She looks one last time in the direction Shae left, then runs with Wynonna. </p>
<p>They exit the square, but as she descends the final step, a blunt object hits the back of Nicole’s head. She whips her head around, and a small crowd of a few people widen their eyes. She looks to the ground, and sees a rock about the size of her palm roll around on the ground until it stops. She snaps her head back to the people in question, none of them look like they threw this rock, but her anger boils nonetheless. </p>
<p>She <i>helped</i> these people and yet…</p>
<p>"You killed my brother!" someone shouts. </p>
<p>Wynonna’s hand wraps around the bend in Nicole’s elbow. She pulls with a solemn look. “Come on, it’s not worth it,” she tells her. </p>
<p>Nicole sighs. She knows Wynonna is right, these people have a lot of unanswered grief in their life, and they need a target. In all honesty, she isn’t even mad at the Voice of Survival guy. A lot of people were digging for answers. Even if that means Nicole is now the face of it. They jog off, and Nicole pulls her collar higher up. </p>
<p>"The entirety of Empire City saw that. We should get out of here," Wynonna says after they gather some distance. </p>
<p>"Agreed." </p>
<p>"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"</p>
<p>Nicole frowns, “What, Stampton Bridge?”</p>
<p>“The one and only.”</p>
<p>“Wyn, that bridge is--"</p>
<p>“Locked up tighter than Victoria’s secret? I know. But I got my Peacemaker, and you got lightning bolts in your hands. We got this."</p>
<p>Nicole lets out a breath and ponders. She catches sight of another group of people looking at them with unfriendly expressions. Nicole makes her decision. </p>
<p>"Stampton it is. I'm not gonna be safe unless we are out of here."</p>
<p>----------------------</p>
<p>The walk there isn't so bad. It's only about half a mile away, and Nicole only had to duck out of sight once. Nicole and Wynonna stayed silent the entire walk there, heavy in thought. </p>
<p>Once the government announced Empire City under quarantine, the only bridge in and out of the city was locked down tight. Layers of barbed wire and shipping containers cover the once bare steel frames, and it makes Nicole anxious. She’d rather be able to see what awaits them there. </p>
<p>As they stop across the street from the entrance, Nicole studies the structure. Each side has three shipping containers stacked on each other. Connecting them is the standard metal fencing, and a large metal door that lifts. Directly in front of that door is a wall of cops, all in riot gear and carrying batons. They stand still, looking menacingly at the crowd of protesters that formed behind an additional police barrier.  Some scream profanities at them, others demand to see their family, but no one moves beyond that barrier. There are spotlights directly on the protestors, and a loud speaker telling them all to go home. </p>
<p>“Hey,” Wynonna nudges Nicole with her elbow. “You ready?”</p>
<p>Nicole sighs, “As I’ll ever be. Are you sure you want to go on this road with me? After what that guy said… I’d understand it if you--”</p>
<p>Wynonna raises a finger to cut Nicole off, “Lemme just cut you off there, sparky. I know you too damn well to know you aren't the first one to be toting a weapon of mass destruction on purpose. I mean hell, you help the lady below us take out her trash every week."</p>
<p>Nicole shrugs, “She makes me lemon scones.”</p>
<p>"So yeah, there's probably more to the story, and we can figure all that out <i>after</i> we cross that bridge." Wynonna's look of determination soon softens. Her finger turns into a first, and she quirks her lip. “Half as long,” she starts. </p>
<p>Nicole exhales shakily, all matter of doubt leaving her as she raises her own fist. She places her knuckles against Wynonna’s. She smiles, and finishes the line, “Twice as bright.”</p>
<p>That saying used to mean something different between the two. When they first met, they lived very different lives than they do now. They went out every night, and partook in many debaucherous activities. Life was always a party. Late one night as Nicole and Wynonna shared a bottle, Nicole had a sobering thought out loud. She said if they kept this up, this would be considered their mid life crisis. Wynonna then chuckled drunkenly, and said that their road would be twice as bright since there’s only half of it. It made sense at the time. </p>
<p>Once Nicole met Shae, those nights calmed down. However Nicole and Wynonna always stayed close together, and the meaning of that phrase changed over time. Now, it means "I'm with you. I'll walk that same road with you till it ends."</p>
<p>And here, now, going into this potentially deadly situation, Nicole feels on top of the world. She has her best friend still on her side. </p>
<p>----------------------</p>
<p>"Alright <i>Call of Duty</i>," Wynonna stuffs her hands in the side of her jacket. "How do you wanna do this?"</p>
<p>Nicole looks at the crowd, the cops, and the door. She determines if she shoots electricity from the crowd, it’ll be blamed on the protestors. The people there with only a few signs at their disposal will be pulverized with batons and shields, and it’ll be her fault. </p>
<p>“I’ll go ahead,” Nicole answers. “You sneak around them and figure out how to get the door open.”</p>
<p>Wynonna widens her eyes, “Haught,--”</p>
<p>“I know you want to help me fight, but those dudes are armored. Plus, if it’s just me, it won’t look like I’m trying to start a riot. If I keep it all on me, no one gets hurt. That includes you.”</p>
<p>“Why do you always have to be the one running ahead?”</p>
<p>“Because I can get shot and beaten several times. You can’t. I’ll take care of those cops. You open that gate, and you can fire from a distance. Follow me, but you know, safely.”</p>
<p>Wynonna crosses her arms defiantly, “I still don’t like it.”</p>
<p>“Not asking you to like it. I’m asking you to just not fight in this. Besides,” Nicole smirks at her before stepping off the sidewalk, “I can take it.”</p>
<p>“Ugh, and you call yourself a top,” Wynonna rolls her eyes. </p>
<p>Nicole pauses and points at her. “I never said that.”</p>
<p>----------------------</p>
<p>“This is a restricted area to all unauthorized personnel. Lethal force can and will be used against all that trespass. Return to your homes. You will be notified when the quarantine has been lifted.”</p>
<p>The loud speaker echoes over the chanting and shouts of the crowd. </p>
<p>“Let us out!”</p>
<p>“You are killing us!”</p>
<p>“Lying pigs!”</p>
<p>Nicole and Wynonna are easily able to slip through the crowd unnoticed. They slip their way to the barriers at the front, and nod at each other one last time before Nicole jumps over. Immediately the spotlights fall on her, and she takes off in a sprint. An alarm sounds, and the line of eight cops all barrel towards her with their batons raised. She throws a shockwave at them, knocking the cops down. As they struggle on their backs like flipped turtles, Nicole zaps four while they are down until they aren’t moving. The rest manage to get up, and head towards her again. Nicole hears some shouts from behind her but focuses on the police coming towards her. She zaps one until he’s down, then dodges a baton attack from another. </p>
<p>Nicole sees out of the corner of her eye Wynonna sprinting to the door. The cops still have their attention on her. She smirks. </p>
<p>One of them gets behind her and smacks her in the head with full force. She luckily doesn’t feel a crack, but the disorientation and the slight ring in her ear doesn’t feel great. She whips around, kicks the guy in the side of the knee to bend him down, then punches the helmet right off him with an electrocuted punch. </p>
<p>“That <i>hurt</i> you <i>dick</i>!” she yells at the unconscious form.</p>
<p>She disposes of the last two with a few panicked zaps, and Nicole stares at the men lying down. Some groan and roll around, but won't get up any time soon. No turning back now. </p>
<p>"Sparky!" Wynonna calls from the control panel. “No dice on the door. They must have cut the power.”</p>
<p>“Well,” Nicole brings some electricity to her palm and approaches the door. “What’s the point in electricity power if you can’t open doors with it."</p>
<p>Wynonna scrunches her face, "I think there should be a pun in there."</p>
<p>"I think you're stupid."</p>
<p>"Asshole."</p>
<p>Nicole ignores the last comment and shoots electricity at something that <i>looks</i> like a power box. Definitely grounds for giving an electrician a panic attack. However she still finds success, as the heavy metal door rises slowly. She immediately sees a storage container, and a couple more barriers beyond. </p>
<p>“Nice,” Wynonna comments. </p>
<p>Nicole is about to reply, until someone budges her shoulder and runs further into the bridge. Once the person steps foot over the threshold of the door, but is gunned down immediately. The two best friends give each other a panicked look before looking behind them. The rest of the protestors are following suit, desperate to get across the bridge as well. </p>
<p>The speakers blast a warning, “This area is under strict quarantine. Indiscriminate lethal force will be used against all unauthorized personnel. This is your final warning.”</p>
<p>Definitely no turning back now. </p>
<p>“We gotta go,” Nicole declares. Wynonna agrees, and they both head in. </p>
<p>Same as the other guy, they are fired upon once they cross the threshold. They sprint to the first barrier and slide to cover. On her way there, Nicole spots a few of the shooters. Two are behind another barrier about a hundred feet away, and another is standing on top of a shipping container near the other two. She needs to get closer, and perhaps higher to get a better shot. Since the power is out, Nicole would rather not go out in the open to achieve that. </p>
<p>Wynonna nudges her after some more gunfire rounds, “Hang on that truck ass and shoot. It’ll make you a harder target.”</p>
<p>Nicole frowns, “The <i>what?</i>”</p>
<p>“You know! The ass of the truck!” She points at the shipping container just a few feet from them, and makes some hand gestures like she’s driving a truck, then grabbing an ass. “Truck ass!”</p>
<p>Nicole just blinks at her, “You mean a <i>shipping container?</i>”</p>
<p>More gunshots chip away at the concrete. </p>
<p>“That’s what I said! Are you gonna go or not?!” Wynonna shouts. </p>
<p>Nicole rolls her eyes and just before she sets off, she says, “You’re dumb!”</p>
<p>Wynonna, always needing the last word, replies while aiming her long barreled gun. “If you want to fuck, Haught, just say so.”</p>
<p>“Ugh,” Nicole groans as she dodges some bullets. She jumps and grips the edge of the container and lifts herself up slowly. She peeks over, and sees the cops still shooting in Wynonna’s direction, unaware of her. Good. </p>
<p>Since she’s a little higher up, so she’s able to get a good shot at the men behind the barrier that Wynonna can’t hit. She hikes up her left foot to the edge, and holds on with her right hand to get better leverage. She shoots with her left. It’s a little awkward looking, but Wynonna is right, she definitely is a harder target. Once they are down, the shooter on the shipping container sees her and takes aim. Luckily Wynonna hits him before he can fire, and they both make a victorious holler. </p>
<p>“Nice one!” Nicole compliments, then decides to climb all the way to the top of the container. With this height she’ll be able to get a better view of the bridge. Right as she straightens out, a thunderous <i>popping</i> is all she hears before several bullets strike her torso with enough force she falls backwards. Instinctively she shoots some bolts back at it, but the shielding around the gun keeps her bolts from hitting the shooter. The gunner fires again, and she tumbles off the container on top of one of the protestors, who have apparently been following them. She rolls off the poor soul who didn’t see her coming with a grunt. It is a tough effort, with that graying and blurry vision returning. </p>
<p>She hears Wynonna faintly, “Move dill weed! You alright, zappy?”</p>
<p>Nicole coughs, tasting metal. “Tis but a scratch.”</p>
<p>Wynonna rolls her eyes, “Alright black knight. I saw some gas powered lights to the left, you think you can drain those?”</p>
<p>Nicole coughs again, her foggy brain isn’t processing the thought too well. “Worth a shot,” she manages to grunt out. </p>
<p>“Come on,” Wynonna groans as she helps Nicole up. </p>
<p>“There’s a…” Nicole breathes, trying to warn Wynonna of the gunman, “Thing.”</p>
<p>“Yeah I gathered that, but it's blocked by those truck booties,” Wynonna points around the corner. To the right, two shipping containers stacked on top of eachother block the source of Nicole’s bullet wounds. To the left, the light in question has Nicole letting out a sigh of relief. She pushes forward to drain it. Once she does, she relaxes. Her vision clears, and the metal clinks to the ground. She decides to be more careful from now on. </p>
<p>Nicole eyes the two shipping containers that are stacked with a sort of vengeance. She knows going in front of it will garner her the same result, so she goes behind it to take the cop by surprise. She rounds the corner, and does exactly that. The guy is so focused on his one stretch of road she is able to knock him out easily.</p>
<p>Once he’s down, she finds herself staring at the mounted machine gun with hesitance to move on. If they continue with it still there, any of the people wanting to pass through could get shot down. In a split second decision, she brings electricity in her hands, and touches it. Like Wynonna’s old gun, the gunpowder sparks and makes a small blast to disable the turret. She turns her eyes away to protect them. </p>
<p>Wynonna and the rest of the crowd catches up, but soon they hear more boots and orders heading their way from the other direction. Nicole and Wynonna press forward to deal with them. Despite Nicole telling the crowd to stay back, few listen. They pass another barrier, and other shipping containers along the path. This time, some turrets are further up, and on the side. More cops on the ground.</p>
<p>This time, she goes head first to the gunfire, but makes herself a hard target by sprinting and rolling to the side. She jumps on the side of the shipping container with one of the turrets, and knocks out the shooter and disables the turret. Wynonna focuses on the men on the ground. </p>
<p>They are successful, and reach another gate. Nicole powers it up, and they repeat the same routine. Wynonna and Nicole work together like a well oiled machine, taking out guards and paving a safe way for more to come. Their smiles grow as it seems like there might be a light at the end of this long bridge. They don’t have a plan, but they know as long as they stick together it should be fine. They are masters at winging it. </p>
<p>The next door they reach, Wynonna is panting a little. “Long ass fuckin’ bridge,” she whines. </p>
<p>“You’ve been on it before, you know how long it is,” Nicole replies while taking some electricity from another light. </p>
<p>“With a motorized vehicle! Not my feet!”</p>
<p>Nicole laughs, and says, “Well suck it up buttercup cause we are probably only halfway there.”</p>
<p>“Fuckin’ shit.”</p>
<p>Nicole powers the next door with a sly smile. The people following them stand close, and ready for the next trial. However, as the door rises, Nicole first notices the great wall of fencing, razor wire and concrete. Scattered throughout are these slim, wide holes that look just big enough to peek your eyes through. Something in the air changes as the door finishes screeching its ascent. It’s too quiet, and too eerie for an escape attempt. A general sense of dread settles low in Nicole’s stomach. </p>
<p>Before she’s even able to act, someone from the crowd bumps her shoulder as they rush past. </p>
<p>“Wait!” Nicole shouts.</p>
<p>The person doesn’t listen, and another two follow. It all happens so fast. There is quiet, but once that person steps over that threshold Nicole hears an order before gun barrels poke through those holes. The next thing she sees is bright flashes of light all along this twenty foot wall. Shattering <i>pops</i> and screams of people follow. Nicole just stares with wide eyes. </p>
<p>Wynonna slaps her shoulder, shouts something, and runs. She sees Wynonna make a break for it to her right, slamming through a gate and falling headfirst into the harbor. Then somehow it clicks for her. She <i>runs</i>. Somehow she’s faster than she remembers and jumps out that same spot. Instead of falling into the harbor, she spots an open metal door to a presumed bunker and dives in. As soon as she lands on the concrete floor, the metal door slams, and Nicole is plunged into darkness. </p>
<p>----------------------</p>
<p>The pitch black room she jumped in suddenly flicked to life with a loud fluorescent buzz. She squints her eyes at the blinding light. She blinks a few times, enough to where she can see a thick layer of glass just in front of her. Behind the glass sits a blonde, tight bunned woman with government clothes and a thick file in her hands.</p>
<p>Nicole is greeted by name over an intercom. </p>
<p>“Nicole Haught. You’ve been making quite the name for yourself,” the woman’s voice comes through a speaker on Nicole’s end. She shuffles through the file, then closes it and slaps it on the desk next to her.</p>
<p>Nicole decides to say nothing. This isn’t the first time in an interrogation room. </p>
<p>“My name is Agent Lucado, FBI.” She flashes her badge and puts it back on the desk. “After seeing the footage at ground zero, I figured it was a matter of time before you stepped foot in my office.”</p>
<p>This <i>is her office?</i> Nicole thinks to herself. <i>A bunker out in the middle of the bridge?</i></p>
<p>“You are somewhat of a celebrity in the Bureau. I was the lucky one who was handed your case,” she says with a tight, red lipped smile that veers on the edge of predatory. </p>
<p>Nicole still decides to keep her mouth shut, not knowing how to react with this information. She hasn’t asked if she’s under arrest, but federal law stuff is something that’s a little foreign to her. </p>
<p>Agent Lucado continues, “Any fame hungry agent would slam you with several treason charges that will keep you in a hole so deep you will never see the sun again. <i>But</i>,” she straightens up and pulls another file from her desk, “I am a reasonable woman. I’m going to give you an offer instead.”</p>
<p>Nicole frowns as Lucado opens the file, pulls out a photo and holds it up to the glass separating them. It looks like one of those surveillance photos secret agent movies use for assassinations or something like that. The person is a handsome, muscular black man with a military style haircut and serious eyes. He’s looking to the left, unaware of the photographer, wearing simple civilian clothes. </p>
<p>“This is my husband, Agent Xavier Dolls.” Lucado breaks her tight reverie to something softer. </p>
<p>Nicole squints her eyes at the picture, and notes Lucado’s appearance. “Isn’t he a little young for you?”</p>
<p>Let it be known that in any other circumstance Nicole wouldn’t shame a woman for liking men on the younger side. Or any preference as long as it’s adult and consensual. However, Nicole also doesn’t particularly like being interrogated in a dark, tiny room. She’ll take the jabs she can get. </p>
<p>Nicole watches in satisfaction as Lucado’s eye twitches a little in annoyance, but that was about it as far as reactions. </p>
<p>“Before the Blast he was sent to Empire City to infiltrate an organization known as the First Sons.”</p>
<p>Nicole raised her brow, <i>sounds like a cult.</i></p>
<p>The agent puts the photo down, grabs another from the file. On it is a symbol. A thick octagon on the outside, and on the inside with a star and an eye in the middle. There’s some latin, and other shapes before Lucado puts the photo down again. She shows another with a bunch of old white men in suits looking too prestigious for their own good. </p>
<p>
  <i>Definitely a cult.</i>
</p>
<p>“They were working on a device called the ‘Ray Sphere’,” she pulls out another photo. This one is a diagram. A person in the middle holds a circle, and on the outside are a bunch of little stick figures with arrows pointing to the person in the middle. “This device drains the neuroelectric energy of a group of people, and concentrates it to the holder.” She pulls out another photo of a blueprint, one that is circular shaped with all sorts of wires and part names Nicole doesn’t recognize. However, it does look very similar to the device Nicole held on that photo the Voice of Survival displayed on that screen. </p>
<p>Lucado pauses for a moment and lets the information sink in. It doesn’t take long. </p>
<p>Nicole speaks for the first time, “That’s what… I’m like this because of that… <i>thing</i>?”</p>
<p>The Agent nods her head, “Most likely.”</p>
<p>“But I didn’t… I don’t even <i>know</i>--”</p>
<p>Lucado raises her hand to quiet Nicole’s incoming denials, “I’m not charging you with anything <i>yet.</i>”</p>
<p>Nicole narrows her eyes at the “yet”, but waits for her to continue. </p>
<p>“After the Blast, I lost contact with Xavier. I’ve extended my reach as far as it can go, and it was pure luck that your case landed on my desk.” She sighs and puts her little show of photos on the desk. When she looks at Nicole again, the fatigue and hint of sadness peek through the hard exterior. She’s losing hope. “If you find Xavier and the Ray Sphere, there’s a good chance you will walk out of this city a free woman.”</p>
<p>That perks Nicole’s ears up, “A good chance? How good are we talking?”</p>
<p>“Assuming you do as I say and follow Xavier’s trail, it’s likely more details predating the Blast will come up. Meaning more evidence that clears your name in it all. No offense, but you don’t strike me as smart enough to create a device like that and run an underground operation like the ‘First Sons.’”</p>
<p>Nicole hums, “Some taken.”</p>
<p>“The choice is yours, Nicole. You can either be arrested here, now, and face the consequences. Or...” Lucado rises from her chair, and presses a button on the wall. A loud buzzer sounds, then the door to the outside opens. The sunlight floods through. “Get working on your freedom.”</p>
<p>Nicole looks back at her with narrowed eyes. She doesn’t like this deal one bit, starting with her freedom dangled above her head like a fisherman and his lure. She also doesn’t like how wack this all sounds on paper. Then again, one day Nicole woke up and suddenly she’s a human light socket, so maybe she should give the woman some slack. </p>
<p>“Fine,” she sighs. “What now?”</p>
<p>Lucado cracks a smile that gives Nicole a weird feeling in her stomach. She simply says, “I’ll keep in touch. Oh, and you might want to travel <i>under</i> the bridge. Topside is a little hectic.” Then a metal barrier slams down in front of the glass between them with a conversation ending <i>bang</i>.</p>
<p>“And I thought Wynonna was dramatic,” Nicole mutters before turning on her heel, and jumping out the open door. </p>
<p>Under Stampton bridge is a sea of pipes and maintenance bridges. She lands on a maintenance bridge between two main supports, and plans the first pipe she’s gonna cling on to. Her phone rings. She pulls it out her pocket, and frowns at the restricted number. </p>
<p>
  <i>We’ll be in touch.</i>
</p>
<p>Nicole swipes her thumb on her phone and pauses for a moment. </p>
<p>“Good, you know how to answer a phone,” comes the arrogant voice of Lucado. “Thought now was a good time to go over some of the basics.”</p>
<p>Nicole sighs and rolls her eyes. She puts her phone on speaker, and clips it to the front of her shoulder sling backpack so she can continue her way back to the city. “Go on.”</p>
<p>“Since we are now ‘partners’ I’d like to inform you I have taken the liberty of cloning your phone’s frequency, and have a lock on your GPS. Oh! And I can hear every word you say.”</p>
<p>“That’s <i>super</i>,” Nicole grunts. She jumps to another pipe and hangs, planning her trajectory to another. </p>
<p>“Don’t forget who holds your leash, Nicole. You find Xavier and the Ray Sphere, then I will get you out. But if you make the decision to double cross me, or do something stupid, that hole we discussed earier? Won’t be a hole. It will be a <i>firing squad</i>. Got it?”</p>
<p>Dramatics. </p>
<p>“Yeah, got it.”</p>
<p>----------------------</p>
<p>After a while of jumping from pipe to pipe, hanging emergency lights, and maintenance bridges Nicole sees in the next pillar some Reapers messing with some pipes within their reach. She squints her eyes, and sees one of them kick it enough times the pipe comes loose and water sprays out. With a long groan, the water gives out and the long pipe falls into the harbor with a loud splash.</p>
<p>“The fuck?”</p>
<p>The gurgled sounds of victory come from two Reapers, then focused on another one. Nicole hastens her trip over there to put an end to it. She takes them by surprise by a few bolts, enough to where one falls off the bridge. The other falls flat on the bridge. Her phone rings again. </p>
<p>“Yeah?” she answers. </p>
<p>“I’ve been noticing some water pressure changes from the main line on the bridge. What’s going on down there?” Lucado asks.</p>
<p>“Reapers are busting up the pipes for some reason.” </p>
<p>“Interesting,” Lucado pauses for a moment, and Nicole hears some keys clacking. “I’ll have to look into it. You focus on getting back.”</p>
<p>Nicole rolls her eyes, “Dang, I was really thinking about my mom’s poppy seed muffin recipe.”</p>
<p>Lucado just hangs up. Nicole smirks. </p>
<p>----------------------</p>
<p>Nicole faces a few more Reapers along the way. It doesn’t make sense to her, why Reapers would be busting up water lines. Normally they just take supplies and horde it, and cause general mayhem. This just seems out of character.</p>
<p>On the last bit of bridge, Nicole has to tread the last pipes carefully. It seems the Reapers already messed with the pipes there, and they were about to fall off as well. Nicole doesn’t know much about the water works of Empire City, but she gathers a good bit of the water supply comes from Stampton bridge. That can’t be good. </p>
<p>But the thoughts of the alarming behavior of the Reapers drift away as she reaches the end of Stampton Bridge. She jumps from the last pipe, and is satisfied to feel solid ground on her feet again. However the warm, fuzzy feeling of “home” quickly dissipates once she reminds herself that a good bit of the city wants her dead. Maybe even Shae. </p>
<p>She pulls out her phone to call Wynonna, but remembers that she had to swim her way back. There’s no way her phone would have survived. She’ll find the loud mouthed brunette soon. The next name on her contacts is Shae. Before she thought any better, she touches “call”. It rings once, twice, then goes straight to voicemail. Nicole sighs and ends it, figuring this is the end of the two of them. Her eyes burn fighting back the tears that wish to escape. Her stomach churns. </p>
<p>“Haught?! <i>Fuck!</i> Is that you?”</p>
<p>That awful churn turns to relief as Nicole hears Wynonna’s call for her. She sees a flash of brown hair before she’s pulled into a fierce hug. Nicole scrunches her nose at the sewery smell that immediately follows after, but Nicole returns it regardless. </p>
<p>Wynonna pulls away, just as quickly as the hug lasted. She looks a little sheepish from the display, and in all honesty Nicole is surprised by the gesture. Wynonna isn’t a touchy feely type of person. She instead frowns and slaps Nicole’s shoulder. “What the hell happened? How did you get out of there? I thought you were <i>dead!</i>”</p>
<p>Nicole chuckles, “Could say the same to you, ‘wrecking ball’. That gate didn’t look flimsy.”</p>
<p>“Shit,” Wynonna drawls, “The fall was no issue but the damn <i>swim?</i> Water is cold and smelly, and I ain’t no Michael Phelps.”</p>
<p>“You can say that again. Plus that guy is a douche. Were you waiting for little old me?” Nicole grins.</p>
<p>Wynonna scratches the back of her neck, “I mean… There <i>were</i> bullets and shit flying everywhere. But if anyone were to survive that nonsense it had to be you. How did you get out?”</p>
<p>“Let’s head to the roof. I’ll fill you in on the way.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>“... And it drains neuro-electric energy.”</p>
<p>Wynonna sits on the couch with her palms flat on her knees. She takes in the story for a few moments, opens her mouth a couple times to reply, but then closes it again. Nicole waits a few feet away with her arms crossed, anxious for her reply. It took a while to explain all that happened, after Nicole shushed Wynonna’s insistent questioning. Long enough to where the sun sank below the horizon, and Wynonna is a few beers in. </p>
<p>“I <i>knew</i> it,” she finally says. </p>
<p>“What?” Nicole frowns. </p>
<p>“I fuckin’ <i>knew</i> it!” Wynonna yells triumphantly. “I’ve been saying this shit for years and you always laughed at me!”</p>
<p>“Now hold on--”</p>
<p>“No I will <i>not</i> hold on! The government has always been in the back pocket of some secret organization and you can’t tell me otherwise! This is just proof!”</p>
<p>Nicole sighs, “This is <i>not</i> proof. They were <i>investigating</i> this group. <i>They</i> made the Ray Sphere, and caused all this. The FBI are the ones that want me to find it.”</p>
<p>Wynonna scowls at her, “No, no it’s too convenient.”</p>
<p>“What is?” </p>
<p>“That <i>all this,</i>” Wynonna gestures vaguely towards Nicole, “<i>You,</i> how suddenly a husband is ‘missing’,” she puts air quotes around the word “missing”. “And how this lady suddenly knew you were coming that way, how she knew everything about you. All of this shit was planned from the start.” </p>
<p>Nicole is slowly getting irritated. It isn’t new for Wynonna to come up with random, rash conspiracy theories. She tells her often that she’s left her aluminum foil hat on. She's having a hard time following this one. “Just what is going on then, Wynonna since you have all the answers?”</p>
<p>Wynonna pauses, clicks her tongue then says, “I don’t know yet. But it’s fishy.”</p>
<p>“You think anyone with a badge is fishy.”</p>
<p>“And I have a goddamn <i>right</i> to! America has a history of being shady as fuck and testing on people! Tuskegee, BLUEBIRD, poor people, slaves,” Wynonna counts on her fingers. “I can fuckin’ go on!”</p>
<p>Nicole opens her mouth to reply, but Wynonna isn’t finished. </p>
<p>“And not to mention all of the shit they are hiding in Area 51. This,” Wynonna waves her arms wildly, “All this shit, this bullshit quarantine, is too damn convenient. There’s no way they would have put up Fort Knox on that bridge unless someone on the inside knew <i>something.</i>”</p>
<p>“Okay I admit the bridge <i>is</i> fishy but that doesn’t prove that they are <i>in</i> on the Blast. Why would they want me to get the Ray Sphere in the first place then? If it was them all along they would have it in the first place.”</p>
<p> Wynonna sighs, “I don’t know, but what I <i>do</i> know is that you <i>can’t</i> give it back to them.”</p>
<p>“What?!” </p>
<p>“I’m serious! That thing back in government hands? They would make some sort of super soldier program, then we will <i>all</i> be screwed. We need to bring the fight to <i>us!</i>”</p>
<p>“Wyn,” Nicole pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs.</p>
<p>“We’ll take it, use it to super power me and some of our friends, and--”</p>
<p>Nicole seethes, the very suggestion of another Blast has her shouting, “I am <i>not</i> allowing another Blast to happen again!”</p>
<p>Wynonna stares at her, surprised by the sudden change of tone. Nicole doesn’t raise her voice often, and the Earp is gobsmacked. </p>
<p>Nicole exhales and forces herself to relax. “Look, I’m sure everything will pan out okay. If they plan on doing sketchy shit with it, I’ll destroy it. Besides,” she manifests some electricity in her palm, “I can make sure they listen.”</p>
<p>Wynonna crosses her arms over her chest, and wears a stubborn frown, “I still don’t like it.”</p>
<p>Nicole closes her fist and kicks Wynonna’s boot playfully, “I know. But you trust me, right?”</p>
<p>“Duh.”</p>
<p>“Okay, good. Then trust me when I say it’ll be alright, <i>and</i> you need a shower. You <i>stink</i>.”</p>
<p>Wynonna flips her off. </p>
<p>Nicole smiles, glad the air is cleared for the most part, aside from Wynonna’s sewer smell. She walks towards the door to the roof access, “I’ll catch you later. I got some work to do.” </p>
<p>“Course you do,” Wynonna grumbles. “Tell your government drone I <i>don’t</i> say hi.”</p>
<p>“Wow, what a burn.”</p>
<p>----------------------</p>
<p>Nicole pulls the needle through the fabric of her jacket, sealing the last bit of bullet hole. Once she left Wynonna on the rooftop, Nicole found her hidden stash of sewing equipment in Wynonna’s apartment. Well, it’s technically <i>their</i> apartment, but Nicole hadn’t considered it that for a while. Shae and Nicole were getting more serious, and slowly she was moving some of her stuff there. Not anymore, Nicole corrects herself. </p>
<p>Luckily, the cookie tin containing her needles and thread stayed there, and Nicole decided to quickly patch up her jacket. A reasonable person would have thrown the jacket out with all the holes it had, but Nicole <i>really</i> likes this jacket, and she didn’t want to let it go. One thing about growing up with a traditional mother, is that Nicole was taught how to sew and repair rips at a young age. Her family didn’t give her much after that, especially after she left flowers and Valentine’s cards for only girls in school. </p>
<p>Getting the blood out was no issue either. Hydrogen peroxide can get blood out of anything. <i>That</i> she learned from Shae. A paramedic is sometimes a messy job. The memories of Shae coming home and shedding her jacket, sometimes with a hint of blood or some other body fluid flash in her mind. She’d always be so grateful when Nicole offered to do laundry and cook so she could relax in the bath in silence for the night. The smile she’d give her...</p>
<p>Nicole finally lets the tears she’d been holding back fall. No matter what she does, she can’t help her mind constantly reeling back to Shae. She peeks back at her phone and sees no notifications. None replying to the two phone calls, and five text messages she sent her. She wants Shae to know she’d never… </p>
<p>How she misses her… </p>
<p>She just <i>wants</i>...</p>
<p>It hasn’t even been a day yet, but to be all melodramatic, Nicole feels as if a hole has been cut in her heart. She grips her jacket tightly in her hands, and lets the sobs overtake her. </p>
<p>At least now, she has this moment with herself. A moment is all she needs. </p>
<p>----------------------</p>
<p>Nicole’s breathing evens out after a while, she isn’t sure how long it’s been until her phone buzzes. She grabs it with embarrassing haste and immediately rolls her eyes at the restricted number. </p>
<p>It’s only a text with a location. She assumes she must go <i>now.</i> She wipes her face off, double checks the stitches on her jacket, and heads out. </p>
<p>----------------------</p>
<p>The location is only a couple of buildings away from her own. She perches on the rooftop, about twenty stories high. Instead of climbing the stairs, she climbed the actual building. The workout was taxing enough to get Nicole’s mind off of things before this supposed mission, and it worked. Her legs dangle off the roof as she waits for her next instruction. </p>
<p>Her phone rings, and she puts it on speaker. “What now?” she asks the phone. </p>
<p>“Housekeeping,” Lucado replies. “First I need you to look at a weird energy reading I’ve been getting. Across the street from you is where the signal is the strongest. Go to it.”</p>
<p>Nicole gets up from her perch and looks. Across the street is a building half the size of the one she’s on now, but what catches her eye is a blue, glowing object. She squints her eyes. “I uh, see a glowy thing?” </p>
<p>Lucado seems irritated by her lack of detail, “A glowy thing?” </p>
<p>“Yeah, hold on.” Nicole jumps off the roof and runs across the street. She startles a few bystanders but ignores them. She starts climbing and gets closer. The object is blue, and sharp looking. It sticks out the building as if it hit it at a high velocity. As she climbs nearer, she feels… <i>weird</i>. As if a sort of energy radiates off of it, like it’s calling to her. </p>
<p>“It’s like… a metal shard,” Nicole explains. She grips on to a window perch right next to it. “Definitely not something I’ve seen before.”</p>
<p>“Hmm…” Nicole can hear Lucado’s chair creak, and some papers rustle around. “Can you see the area of Ground Zero from where you are?”</p>
<p>Nicole cranes her neck, and turns out she can. Not too far is the water separating the Neon from the Historic District. “Yeah,” she answers. </p>
<p>“Okay, I have a theory. Go ahead and pull it off. I want you to drop it off at a certain location so my scientists can analyze it.”</p>
<p>“Alright,” Nicole says before reaching out to grab it. Instead of feeling hard metal, Nicole gasps as the object glows brighter, then dematerialized into little sparks, and flows <i>into</i> her hand. Nicole falls back with a shriek, waving her hand around as if it got some disgusting goo on her hand. “The <i>fuck</i>?”</p>
<p>“What? What’s going on?”</p>
<p>“The… The thingy! It went in my hand!” Nicole pants. Her palm feels a little funny, almost tingly. It travels <i>up her arm.</i></p>
<p>“Ah, you’ve absorbed it then,” Lucado resolves. </p>
<p>“You <i>knew</i> it would do that?!”</p>
<p>“I had a <i>theory.</i>” Lucado corrects her. “You’ve just absorbed what they call a ‘blast shard’. There’s some science behind it but long story short, the Blast from the Ray Sphere produces so much energy, that some of it escapes. Your body wasn’t able to absorb it all at one time, and instead it materialized, and shot out into some places in the city.”</p>
<p>“Oh.” Nicole drops down from the ledge and onto the street.</p>
<p>“So what just happened is you absorbed that energy back into you. I’d suggest in your free time you find some more, it’ll help you gain more power. But for now I have another thing for you to do. I’m sending you the location now.”</p>
<p>Nicole shrugs, “Alright.”</p>
<p>After hanging up the phone, she hears a couple of gunshots, then gurgled yelling not too far from her. </p>
<p>Reapers. </p>
<p>Lucado won’t mind a brief detour.</p>
<p>----------------------</p>
<p>A few more bullet wounds and three dead Reapers later, Lucado sends Nicole to another building not too far from her apartment. The general shape of it is rectangular except for the entrance, which draws out to a sphere shape. Where the building curves to a sphere, it towers higher than the rest, and changes to a red barn like wood with billboards instead of just plain windows. </p>
<p>“Alright, what now?” Nicole asks. </p>
<p>“I need you to investigate a strange interference I’m receiving near you. Need to find its origin and purpose.”</p>
<p>“So… what exactly am I looking for?”</p>
<p>Lucado sighs, “Not really sure. Maybe a transmitter of some kind.”</p>
<p>“Cool.” </p>
<p>Nicole decides to climb on top of that sphere to get a better look. It’s tall, and a pipe only goes about half way up, so she decides to cling around to a billboard and use that. On her way around, she sees another blast shard. She quickly climbs to it and absorbs it. Without the initial freakout, Nicole notices how that tingly feeling travels around her body. It’s a good kind of tingly, almost like a shot of energy drink without the heart palpitations. It’s weird. </p>
<p>Nicole climbs up the rest of the way and sees a small satellite dish near the edge. Initially she thinks it is a TV dish, but there is a whole electrical box attached to it. She opens the door and examines the wires and switches. At the bottom, is an eject button and a tiny slot right next to it. She presses it, and an SD card pops out.</p>
<p>She calls Lucado.</p>
<p>“Lucado,” the Agent greets dryly. </p>
<p>“Think I found it,” Nicole twiddles the SD card in her hands. “There is a satellite here that doesn’t look like it’s bringing in any football to a TV. This SD card came out of it.”</p>
<p>“Put it into your phone and see what it contains.”</p>
<p>“What if it has some kind of virus or whatever?”</p>
<p>Lucado sighs with annoyance, “Then I will issue you with a new phone, now put it in there.”</p>
<p>“Bossy,” Nicole grumbles while picking out the SD slot.</p>
<p>“I heard that.”</p>
<p>Nicole mouths “I heard that,” mocking Lucado while she slips the SD card in. She opens the file, and frowns at the one voice memo, labeled with a series of numbers and letters. She taps it. An error message pops up.</p>
<p>“This file is unavailable,” Nicole reads. </p>
<p>“Hold on,” Lucado hums. </p>
<p>Nicole hears typing again against her laptop, and her phone starts to glitch out. “Are you doing that?”</p>
<p>“Yep. I’m trying to break this encryption on it.”</p>
<p>“Oh.” </p>
<p>Nicole can hear Wynonna’s conspiracy ramblings now. Definitely a little scary she can just… <i>Access</i> her phone like that. Just how deep is her rabbit hole right now?</p>
<p>“Alright, try again,” Lucado breaks Nicole out of her spiral. </p>
<p>“Uh, okay.”</p>
<p>Nicole taps again, and the screen changes to the voice memo app. It starts off with some heavy breathing, then a deep voice comes through. </p>
<p>“I-I couldn’t stop Kessler from detonating the Ray Sphere. Damn thing took out… Five or six square <i>blocks</i>. Killed god knows how many. I found the Ray Sphere in the blast crater, next to the kid. Don’t know if she’s dead or not I couldn’t check. I had to get out of there. I am going to try and hold up somewhere.” They take a few desperate breaths. “If anyone has been listening to these, I need <i>immediate</i> extraction. Now! I need to get the hell out of here before Kessler finds me.”</p>
<p>The audio ends there, and Nicole is more confused than ever. </p>
<p>“You understand any of that?” Nicole asks. </p>
<p>Lucado is silent for a moment, not even a clacking of the keyboard or shuffling of papers. </p>
<p>“I don’t believe it. That’s Xavier,” she breathes. “He must have used dead drops to communicate with his handlers…” </p>
<p>“Um, English?”</p>
<p>Lucado groans into the phone, “It <i>means</i> I’m going to need you to find more of those. They might tell us where he is, and where he took the Ray Sphere.”</p>
<p>“Find Xavier and the Ray Sphere, and I’m out, right?”</p>
<p>“I know the <i>deal</i>, Nicole.”</p>
<p>“Just making sure.”</p>
<p>Lucado changes her annoyed tone to something clipped and final. “That’s all I have for you tonight. I will be in contact with you tomorrow,” then ends the call. </p>
<p>“Sheesh,” Nicole puts her phone back in her pocket. </p>
<p>It’s around midnight now, and Nicole feels the exhaustion of the day finally set on her. She drags her feet back to her apartment. She wishes she knew why she had the Ray Sphere, why she set it off, why things turned out the way they did. </p>
<p>And who the hell is Kessler? </p>
<p>She hopes working with Lucado will clear up just what the hell is going on, and then get her the hell out of there. She hopes that wherever Shae is, that she’s okay. </p>
<p>Nicole tries and tries again to remember what happened before that day, but it’s just a blur. She groans and rubs her temples. </p>
<p>In her exhausted and frustrated state, Nicole doesn’t notice the shadow looming nearby, watching her every move.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>wOnDeR wHo ThAt CoUlD bE</p>
<p>Also the hydrogen peroxide trick is correct. Any people with cycles reading this, take notes. I learned the trick from working at an animal hospital. </p>
<p>Hope ya'll are staying safe out there, and are doin okay. </p>
<p>Thank you dreamwalking78 for reading through and makin sure everything make sense, and checkin up on me every now and then. You're freakin great.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Heart-Shaped Box</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey guys! </p><p>Here we are with a new update. I appreciate yall's patience with me. I hope to have the chapter count soon, just doing a little reworking with the plot.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Nicole’s hopes for finding more answers in the past few days have been squandered. Every time she set out to look for more dead drops, Reapers would show up at the worst time. It seemed like every five she would put down, ten more would be around the corner causing mayhem. Nicole is tired. </p><p>That isn’t the only problem, either. The frequencies Lucado was tracking before, have suddenly disappeared. For the past couple of days, in between taking down Reapers would be wandering around rooftops, hoping she would find another satellite dish. No such luck. Every day Nicole’s frustration grows. </p><p>In the meantime, she’s been parading around the city, doing meaningless shit like powering up cell towers so Lucado can’t lose track of her, or performing unsuccessful spy missions on Reapers. Now Lucado has her looking at some activity near the power plant. Apparently a bunch of Reapers are there doing god knows what to it.</p><p>As soon as she turns the corner all of them point their guns at her and fire. Fortunately for her, she's able to take electricity from just about anywhere, but she's taking a lot of hits. </p><p>
  <i>So much for that patch job on my jacket.</i>
</p><p>It takes a while, but eventually she has one of them cornered at the end of an alleyway. The wall is covered in dials and doodads and all sorts of things Nicole knows nothing about. A Reaper stands there with their back facing her, tinkering with something. </p><p>"Pretty sure you're not authorized personnel, buddy," she tells the Reaper before zapping them down. </p><p>She pulls out her phone to call Lucado to tell her she didn't learn much. </p><p>"Lucado," she greets. </p><p>"Hey, I just got the last of the Reapers here.”</p><p>“What were they doing?”</p><p>“I dunno, Reaper things? One looked like they were tinkering with the main panel… thingy.”</p><p>There is a long sigh over the phone, “Nicole we are trying to figure out <i>what</i> the Reapers are doing, what they are planning. Not just neutralizing them.”</p><p>“Can’t really do much <i>watching</i> when all they do is shoot at me,” Nicole grumbles back. </p><p>“Then <i>stay out of sight</i>, Nicole. It isn’t that hard.”</p><p>Nicole opens her mouth for a weak rebuttal, but a gurgled yell suddenly booms around the corner. </p><p>
  <b>
    <i>”AAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHH!"</i>
  </b>
</p><p>This yell is way different then than the other sounds she usually hears from Reapers. It’s more urgent, violent, and heading her way. </p><p>Even Lucado heard it, “What was that?” </p><p> “Uh--”</p><p>
  <b>
    <i>”AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!"</i>
  </b>
</p><p>The culprit suddenly appears. A tall, honking Reaper with wires and blocks on a vest, looks right at her. The Reaper pauses, holds out two flares and ignites them. There is another scream, and the Reaper starts sprinting towards her. Nicole is in such a state of shocked confusion, that she just watches them. Whatever this Reaper has planned, Nicole can't manifest the required mental processing to avoid whatever is coming. Instead, she just mutters, “Aw, <i>hell.</i>”</p><p>
  <i>Kaboom!</i>
</p><p>Bright. Heat. </p><p>Ringing. </p><p>Darkness. </p><p>Minutes, seconds, an unknown amount of time passes by. </p><p>All Nicole can really process is the overwhelming pain <i>all over.</i> She feels a weak groan pass her lips, and her skin stitch itself back together. She lays there, and slowly blinks her eyes open. Her brain feels as if some jackass ripped it out and handed it to a sugar-filled three year old. She notices as her vision clears, that it's a lot darker than it was before. Her mouth is suddenly dry, and her bones ache. </p><p>This was painful, but fortunately not as painful as the Blast. She forces herself to keep her eyes open and raise her head, then her shoulders. She flops over on her stomach to plant her hands on the ground. </p><p>Her arms shake as she pushes herself up. Her legs stubbornly follow. She groans as she reaches for her phone she dropped somewhere. Most likely destroyed. </p><p>What's also annoying is her vision isn't clearing like it normally does after a minute. The darkness surrounding her doesn't brighten. </p><p>"Nicole? Are you there?" She hears Lucado. </p><p>She pats the ground in the general direction of the voice, and is genuinely surprised to see her phone intact. That's NOKIA phone level sturdiness. </p><p>"Yeah," Nicole groans back. </p><p>"What happened? The entire Neon just went dark."</p><p>Nicole pants as she stands up with wobbly legs. That headache and fishbowl vision still doesn't clear, and it's annoying the hell out of her. </p><p>"Fuckin' Reaper," is all she can say. “Head feels like a vice.”</p><p>“Do you think you can fix it?”</p><p>“I’m not a fucking electrician,” Nicole snaps. “The shit <i>exploded.</i>”</p><p>“Okay…” Lucado pauses to type on her laptop. “The backup should have kicked in by now. You need to see what's up. I’m sending you the location. Hope you don’t mind the sewers.”</p><p>Nicole growls in frustration as the call ends. There is no electricity around to heal her, so she has to live with the physical pain from the explosion and keep going. It seems in general, her body reacts to the lack of electricity around her. She feels faint, and almost peckish in addition to the pain. She hopes to not run into anymore Reapers along the way. </p><p>Luckily, the sewer grate Lucado sent her is a short distance away. </p><p>She opens the grate with a struggle, and just jumps down. Ladders be damned. </p><p>She's plunged into darkness, and lands on something hard, thankfully not wet. With the power out, there is no way for Nicole to see <i>anything</i>. Her phone light can only go so far. </p><p>Then again, she <i>is</i> capable of producing lightning. </p><p>She thinks about it, how she can bring the electricity to the palm of her hand. That isn’t much of a light, and she needs her palms to shoot in case she runs into trouble. </p><p>She continues to ponder of other places the electricity can form and potentially stay there. Somehow, the electricity in her seems to answer her call, as it appears on her arms. It starts on the ball of her shoulders, and ends around her wrists. It travels back and forth so fast, it seems like the lightning is just staying there, like little streams of light. It's bright, and Nicole looks around and breathes in awe from the sewer now illuminated around her. </p><p>“Woah,” she says. </p><p>From the proximity of the sewer grate, and from what she can see, Nicole knows exactly where she’s at. She presses forward. The wounds that litter her body protest, but what is remarkable is that they still heal at an accelerated rate. Just not as instant if she drains electricity. </p><p>Lucado calls. </p><p>“Yeah?” Nicole greets. </p><p>Lucado’s voice over the phone is more tinny and static than usual from the bad reception. “It’s possible the Reapers are the reason the backup didn’t kick in. I’m looking at the blueprints now, and there should be a transformer not too far from you. If they killed the circuit, you need to re-establish it.”</p><p>“Okay.”</p><p>Nicole makes her way through the sewers, jumping on large pipes and landing on service bridges to avoid the water beneath. It isn’t long until she notices two large circular mechanisms next to each other. The one on the left is definitely powered up, with the fan in the middle of it circling quickly. The other on the right doesn't have any lights, or fan running on it. She looks up, and sees the connecting mechanism between the two severed. Nicole wonders just how the Reapers managed to separate it, albeit safely. Or maybe <i>unsafely</i>, since these characters don’t have a sense of wellbeing. Did one die from electrocution to sever the connection?</p><p>Nicole pushes her curious thoughts to the side as she approaches the mechanism. She has a pretty good idea as to <i>how</i> the connection would be re-established. </p><p>Herself. </p><p>Nicole jumps up, and places both of her hands on each end of the severed mechanism, and just hopes. The electricity runs through from the tips of her fingers to her toes and back again. It sparks, loud and scary as she struggles to hold on from the intensity of the current. It doesn’t hurt, surprisingly, but it tingles along her skin. She clenches, wondering when this strange feeling will end, till her arms give out and she falls. Her knees hit the ground first, then her hands. She sucks in deep breaths to recover as the tingly feeling subsides. </p><p>She looks behind her, and notices both mechanisms are lit up and working. Nicole smiles. </p><p>Then, a new feeling arrives. She <i>sees</i> the electronics move on the transformer, but she can also <i>sense</i> it. The electricity moving throughout it, the switches, it’s like she can see and feel exactly how the device works. She wonders what it will feel like once the city's power goes back on. </p><p>“Did it work?” Lucado chimes.</p><p>“Yeah,” Nicole breathes. “Now what?”</p><p>“You need to restart the distribution center by charging up the voltage regulator that is mounted at the front. Shouldn’t be too far ahead of you.”</p><p>“I’m… going to pretend I know what you just said.”</p><p>Lucado sighs deeply, “Literally just shoot electricity at the big panel in the front.”</p><p>Nicole smiles at Lucado’s annoyance, “Yes dear.”</p><p>---------------------</p><p>Further along the tunnel, Nicole sees a dim light at one of the clearings. She squints her eyes as she draws near, and sees some figures huddled around it. </p><p>She realizes that glow is a small fire, in one of those metal barrels, and people huddle around it for warmth. The light coming from her arms shows others off to the side, placing a sheet over an unmoving body. Right next to them is a dead Reaper.</p><p>Some people have taken shelter in the sewers to get away from the Reapers. Living in darkness, putrid smells and cold to avoid them. Seems like they followed them here.  </p><p>Nicole’s heart breaks.</p><p>The approaching light also announces her appearance, and the people there cower in fear. One moves a child behind them. </p><p>They fear <i>her</i> just as much. </p><p>Nicole speaks softly, “I’m not here to harm you,” she says to the group. She doesn’t raise her arms, or keep them in her pockets. She keeps them at her side, fingers relaxed. “I’m just passing through.”</p><p>They don’t reply. </p><p>Nicole looks back at the dead Reaper. “Are there more of them here?”</p><p>One near the barrel fire nods. Then points in the direction they went, in the direction Nicole is heading towards. </p><p>Nicole nods, "I'll get rid of them. I promise." </p><p>They say nothing. </p><p>Nicole pauses before turning away. The guilt of the situation flares up again. She knows she's responsible for people having to live this way, why they hide. Though here in this moment, with the power being down and not having much resources herself, there isn’t anything she can do. </p><p>She walks toward the darkness, but before she does, she turns around and says “I’m sorry,” before pressing further in the tunnel. </p><p>The walkway ends around a corner, and Nicole is forced to grab on a pipe to keep going. </p><p>---------------------</p><p>Lucado pipes up on her phone, “Are you having trouble navigating the sewers?” </p><p>“Nah. I used to be into urban exploration about four years ago. Crawled all over the place.”</p><p>“Gotcha. You should be getting close.”</p><p>Sure enough, when Nicole rounds the corner of the hallway, a large machine with dials and connectors all around it. There are open grates where fans are behind. It looks similar to the stuff she saw at the power plant topside. To the left, she sees the panel that is most likely what Lucado was talking about. She walks closer, but stops dead when she hears that dreadful screech again. </p><p>
  <b>
    <i>”AAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHH!"</i>
  </b>
</p><p>Not one, but two. </p><p>
  <b>
    <i>”AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”</i>
  </b>
</p><p>Two Reapers with the same getup that blew her up before come sprinting around the regulator.</p><p>“Shit!” Nicole screeches before turning on her heel and running the opposite way. She knows she can’t outrun them, but this way she can throw some bolts at them over her shoulder. </p><p>She gathers the electricity in her hand, makes sure she is on the right path before turning back and--</p><p>Nicole gasps when she sees the electricity in her palm has grown bigger than usual. Aside from the usual sparks, the electricity there has formed into a <i>ball</i> of some sort. It grows in her hand, filling with energy, ready to burst…</p><p>Without a second thought, Nicole just chucks it behind her shoulder like a banana peel and continues to run, not knowing what will be the outcome. She looks over her shoulder again, and sees right as the first Reaper steps over it, the ball flashes. </p><p>
  <i>Boom!</i>
</p><p>Both Reapers fall on their backs, as the contained ball of energy explodes into a released fury of lightning. In a blink of an eye, it disappears, leaving the two Reapers still and quiet. </p><p>Nicole stops her sprinting and cautiously steps toward them. “Oh, Reaperrr…” she singsongs to them. She keeps her palms up just in case. </p><p>She taps one of their feet with her toe and quickly flinches away. Nothing. </p><p>Nicole exhales the breath she was holding in relief. Now that the chaos has finally died down, she can react to the fact that she can now throw <i>grenades.</i></p><p>Electricity grenade? Shock explosion?</p><p>Shock grenade?</p><p>Shock grenade. That works best. </p><p>Nicole turns to the power distributor, now more eager to get the power back on in the city to see what else is new. With a few aimed bolts at the panel, the distributor kicks back on with a buzz. The fans start to whirl, and the dials on the front fluctuate. </p><p>Immediately, Nicole can feel it. Even though she's hundreds of feet below ground. Her skin prickles a little, the hairs in her arm stand at attention. She hurries to the ladder to go topside. </p><p>Once she pushes the heavy sewer grate to the side, Nicole breathes the fresh air in relief. The city lights greet her like an old friend. She jogs to the nearest streetlight, and drains some of the electricity there. She sighs as the remaining wounds seal shut finally. Much better.</p><p>That bone tired feeling Nicole had before is diminished. She feels awakened with new energy. </p><p>Lucado calls her, “Good work on getting the power back online. I have one more thing I want you to do.”</p><p>“Okay?”</p><p>“I’m sending you the location of a hospital that needs your help.”</p><p>Nicole growls and grips her phone tightly, “I don’t see how this has anything to do with finding Xavier and getting me out of the city. You’ve been parading me around for days now and I don’t have the time to solve all of the world’s problems.”</p><p>Lucado bites back, “What you seem to misunderstand, Nicole is that you <i>don’t</i> have a choice in the matter. So in reality, you have all the time in the world. Second of all, you need to look at the bigger picture. The more people you help, the more likely they will help you in return. I’d suggest you get off your high horse and go to the location before I start the process of sending your ass to prison,” Lucado ends with a click. </p><p>“<i>I</i> should get off my high horse,” Nicole mutters to her phone. </p><p>Two seconds later, Lucado texts her the address of the hospital. She recognizes it as one of the more well known hospitals in the area. It's also the one Shae's ambulance delivered people to regularly. It isn't huge like the one in the Warren district, that one is around 12 or so stories high. Nicole remembers Shae expressing her frustration with her decreasing supplies of medical equipment, because the Reapers took over all of the hospitals and clinics. </p><p>Nicole has an idea as to what Lucado wants her to do. </p><p>---------------------</p><p>The walk there wasn’t so bad, she only encountered a few Reapers. Nicole when traveling has been sticking strictly to rooftops to keep out of sight of citizens. Reapers she can deal with easily. She may blast a few off the roof, or just zap them to incapacity but angry citizens are something a little more difficult. She also collects a few blast shards on the way. Strange, when she gets near them, she feels that same buzzing, skin prickling sensation when she’s near electricity. Interesting. </p><p>Nicole stops at a rooftop near the hospital, and receives another text. </p><p>
  <b>The EMT is in the alleyway. Meet her there.</b>
</p><p>Nicole's heart flutters in a conflicted way. If the off chance comes that Shae is the EMT she's supposed to meet, Nicole doesn't know how she'd even act. How would Shae even <i>be</i> the EMT? What would she even say or explain the situation?</p><p>
  <i>Hey babe, I'm being blackmailed by the government to help you?</i>
</p><p>Nicole shakes the thoughts aside and jumps down anyways. She’s a wing it type of girl and this situation is no different. She reaches that alleyway, and frowns as she sees a person leaning against the wall there. </p><p>Nicole stops, “Gretta?” </p><p>Gretta, Shae’s coworker and semi close friend looks at her with surprise with one eye. The other eye is wearing a fresh eye bandage that wasn’t there the last time Nicole saw her. </p><p>Gretta frowns in disgust, “Oh, it’s <i>you</i>.”</p><p>Nicole shrugs, “Um, yeah.”</p><p>“You’re the one they sent?”</p><p>“Depends on who <i>they</i> is.”</p><p>Mattie sighs, “I don’t even know. Some dude in too new of clothes came by asking too many questions. Told me a few days later somebody was gonna come and help. Is that you?”</p><p>“I guess so.”</p><p>“Of <i>course</i> it is. Had to come play some hero,” Gretta rolls her eye. </p><p>Nicole had only met Gretta a few times before the Blast. They hung out together when Shae and Gretta needed a well deserved outing after stressful weeks. Nicole offered to be the sober one while Shae and Gretta let loose, let off steam and talked about the horrors of their work. Gretta kind of lived on the mysterious side, she never disclosed much about her family life other than the fact that she has a sister. Shae would sometimes come home giddy with another tidbit about Gretta’s life, and they would make silly theories about her. Sometimes about her being a witch, or some superspy. However, she always had a quick wit, and could easily read anyone to filth with just a raised brow. Nicole has always liked her, but it seems now Gretta has caught up with the current public opinion of her, whether she watched that feed of the Voice of Survival or talked to Shae. </p><p>“What do you need, Gretta?” Nicole sighs exasperatedly. </p><p>Gretta sighed, “The Reapers are keeping us from getting much needed medical supplies. And any time we try to set up a makeshift clinic, somehow they know and just… tear it down.”</p><p>“Are they the same ones? Tearing down the makeshift clinics I mean.”</p><p>“I dunno, Nicole they all wear red hoodies and are scary as fuck. I wasn’t looking for a fucking birthmark.”</p><p>“Okay, okay, so maybe or maybe not,” Nicole relents. “I’ll clear them out for you, okay?”</p><p>“Sure.”</p><p>Nicole nods awkwardly and leaves the alleyway. The hospital is a block away, and in her eyesight. She frowns when she doesn’t see any Reapers out and about, but regular citizens passing on the sidewalk. It seems too quiet. </p><p>Then, as if the Reapers sensed her presence, one comes out to the sidewalk donning a large shotgun and blasts a random person. The Reaper raises the gun in triumph, and coughs some of the black muck up. </p><p>“Shit!” Nicole shouts, and sprints the rest of the way there. More pile out of the hospital, all holding various weaponry, aiming at her. They do their choking shouts of fury, and fire. Nicole kills the shotgun-holding one first, and focuses on the rest. They stay in a pack, so Nicole gathers up another shock grenade, and throws it in the center of them. They scream when it explodes, but it’s over quickly. Suddenly Nicole is shot on her shoulder. She grasps her arm, looking around. On the roof, a Reaper moves around frantically with their gun aimed at her. </p><p>Frustrated, Nicole shoots a couple of bolts in their direction to get them to duck. Then she quickly scales the building to face the Reaper head on. She doesn’t have time to do this dodge and shoot nonsense. She peers over the edge of the roof, and shoots the unsuspecting Reaper that was still crouching under the barrier. She climbs the rest of the way up to scan for more Reapers, but pauses when she sees the amount of gurneys there. The place is in a little bit of disarray, most likely because of the Reapers, but it seems that before they took over, they had to make extra space for the people constantly hurt. Even in the outdoors. Nicole sighs. </p><p>The roof access door slams open, and more pile out. Nicole deals with them, with a little more prejudice and anger from the space they kept stealing away from people who needed it. Especially since the Reapers are one of the main reasons so many need medical care on a daily basis. She shoves some off the edge of the roof, throws more grenades, and even takes the initiative of punching and kicking a few. No matter if they kept shooting her. </p><p>By the time everything goes quiet, Nicole is panting from released anger and residual pain. She sweeps the building to make sure all is clear. When she’s on the third floor, her phone rings. It’s Wynonna this time. </p><p>“Hey,” Nicole greets. “I can’t really talk now, is everything--”</p><p>“Yo carpet zap, how’s working with the government drone?” Wynonna asks, vaguely sounding like she’s munching on something. </p><p>Nicole sighs and rolls her eyes. They’ve talked about this, “Wynonna--”</p><p>Wynonna, ignoring that she tried to tell her she can’t really talk, continues. “Yeah yeah, I know she can hear and all. I just want her to know she sucks. Anyways I think Rosita is mad at me.”</p><p>Nicole checks another room, it’s clear. She also rolls her eyes again at Wynonna’s statement. “Wynnona, I can’t--”</p><p>Wynonna still not getting the hint, “Like yesterday she was riding my face and all, and when she was done she just threw a rag at me and told me to get out. Like I’m not a <i>bottom</i> or anything but I’d appreciate some action every now and then.”</p><p>“Wynonna, you shouldn’t make fun of bottoms,” Nicole lectures. “Also, might I remind you that <i>Lucado can hear you right now</i>, and have you maybe, I dunno, <i>asked</i> if something was wrong?”</p><p>“Well no, I didn’t <i>ask</i>, also, I <i>hope</i> Lucado can hear right now. That way I can say ‘HEY! You are a deflated bag of dicks!’” Wynonna cackles at her own dumb joke. “I should send you dick pics.”</p><p>Nicole face palms and groans, “I am hanging up now. I’m busy. Go talk to her, you idiot.”</p><p>“Wait--”</p><p>Nicole hangs up the phone before any more embarrassing things come out of Wynonna’s mouth. She rubs her temples with her fingers, holding her phone in her one hand still. It should be buzzing in 3...2…</p><p>
  <i>Bzz-Bzz</i>
</p><p>Nicole sighs as she opens the text from Lucado. </p><p>
  <b>Make sure that doesn’t happen again.</b>
</p><p>She shoves her phone back in her pocket and grumbles some cuss words. She stomps down the stairs, and grumpily checks the rest of the building. Fortunately, everything looks clear, but her mood barely lifts. As she pushes open the door, she stops dead when she sees the exact person she was hoping to avoid. </p><p>Shae and Gretta stand there, talking beside the body of the person a Reaper shot earlier. A white sheet covers it, and is now placed on a gurney. Their words cut off as Nicole exits the building. Both stare at her with a raised brow. </p><p>Nicole stares like an idiot, awkward and unsure with what to do. Gretta is the one to break the stalemate, by grabbing the gurney and telling Shae she’ll take care of it, not before giving Nicole a death glare as she leaves. Nicole silently curses for it, because now her and Shae are left alone in the street and Nicole doesn’t know how to form words. Her throat is thick and dry, and it’s so nice yet horrible to see her. In one way her heart sings that Shae is okay, but clenches at the fact that she looks even more tired than the last time Nicole saw her. </p><p>The silence between them feels like forever, as both of them don’t move an inch. Nicole begs her stupid lips to say something, hopefully not stupid…</p><p>“H-hey,” Nicole smiles nervously. </p><p>Not a great start. </p><p>Especially with Shae’s new frown and crossed arms over her chest.</p><p>“Um…How have you been?”</p><p>The first words Nicole hears from Shae are a demanding “Why are you here?”</p><p>“Uh…”</p><p>
  <i>Don’t say something stupid don’t say somthing stupid--</i>
</p><p>“I was in the neighborhood?”</p><p>Nicole didn’t mean to put the questioning tone at the end of it, but she panicked. </p><p>Shae cocks her head to the side, “Really? You just <i>happen</i> to show up to the hospital we’ve been trying to clear for weeks?” </p><p>“Yes? Listen Shae--”</p><p>Shae puts up her hand and interrupts her, “Save whatever speech you have planned, because I don’t want to hear it.” She looks at Nicole in a fury now, eyes watering, “You <i>killed</i> Noah, got us all into this fucking mess, and you comin’ here playing a hero is supposed to make me forgive you?”</p><p>Nicole’s breath hitches, as the burn of fresh tears coat her eyes. “N-no I--”</p><p>Whatever fight Nicole has to defend herself, depletes immediately. It <i>is</i> her fault. Shae’s anger with her, the hurt, the devastation, it’s all valid. </p><p>Nicole sags her shoulders and looks down at the ground. “No,” she repeats, but more sure this time. She looks back up, feeling the heat of the tears coat her cheeks. Her throat bobs, and cracks as she pushes through the deep ache in her chest. “I’m sorry.”</p><p>“That doesn’t cut it either.”</p><p>Shae barely brushes past her as she enters the hospital with a slam. Nicole just stands there, looking forward and running the last words she said through her head. </p><p>Nicole can deal with the infamy. She can ignore rocks and vulgarities thrown at her. She can look away at the posters of her picture with the word “terrorist” scribbled on them. </p><p>The one thing Nicole <i>can’t</i> deal with is knowing Shae hates her. </p><p>Agony. </p><p>Nicole quickly wipes her face, and heads home. </p><p>---------------------</p><p>She takes the long way. Nicole jumps from one roof to another, disposing of some Reapers as well. In all honesty, she’s delaying seeing Wynonna. Today has been way too long, and exhausting to be… pleasant. </p><p>She’s already told Lucado she’s done for the day, and miraculously she didn’t have a problem with it. Supposedly government lackeys do have hearts. </p><p>Nicole thumps onto another rooftop and stops. There’s this odd ringing she’s hearing, almost <i>feeling.</i> She frowns, wondering how she can <i>feel</i> a ring, but if she focuses on it, it’s almost the same kind of pull she feels from a blast shard or electricity. She walks a little further, seeing if it increases or decreases. She can feel it more when she goes to her right, so she scans the rooftop, looking for anything strange. </p><p>She doesn’t find anything, so she just goes in that direction until she reaches the ledge of the rooftop. There’s a smaller building right in front of her, and right on the edge of that one is a satellite. Just like the dead drop she found the first time. </p><p>Nicole gasps, her mood doing a one-eighty at the prospect of fucking <i>progress.</i></p><p><i>Finally</i> a step in the right direction. If she can <i>sense</i> dead drops now, she will be able to find them easily, and get out of this hell of a city in no time. </p><p>Nicole jumps to the building and rushes over to it, pulling out the card and slamming it in her phone with excited fingers. </p><p>Her phone already has the encrypted algorithm, so she’s able to just press play. </p><p>What Nicole hears isn’t the deep voice of Xavier Dolls, rather a higher pitched one. More frantic. </p><p>“This is Agent Gibson,” the person announces. “Dolls, if you are getting these, Houston has sent me out here to find you.” There is a shaky exhale, “Where are you? You haven’t even left a trail you… Just disappeared. I hope you’re okay… Anyway, I’ve been listening to your dead drops in the Warren and decided to start surveillance on Nicole Haught.”</p><p>Nicole’s stomach lurched at her name. She’s being watched?</p><p>The recording continues, “My hope is that the more I uncover about her, the closer I will get to finding you, wherever you may be. I… I hope you’re safe… If you happen to get this, <i>please</i> contact me. Agent Gibson, out.”</p><p>The recording ends there, and Nicole is just as confused as ever. How old is this message? How long has she been followed? She whips her head around, looking for any movement. She stops at the rooftop behind her. She <i>thinks</i> she saw something flash over there. She squints her eyes, seeing nothing but an air conditioning unit and a door. Nicole boils it down to her paranoia. </p><p>This Agent Gibson… Who are they? Would Lucado know them?</p><p>They seemed pretty familiar with Dolls. Lucado doesn’t text or call, so she must be taking a break or away from the computer.</p><p>Nicole decides not to call her, and continues her path home but with a constant eye over her shoulder. </p><p>She decides to look for bugs and shut the blinds when she gets home. Wynonna will help her with that. Though, admitting a new government agent is watching her would set Wynonna on another conspiracy rant.</p><p>She’ll keep it to herself for now.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Wonder who Agent Gibson is!</p><p>Next chapter is gonna be written by none other than the booger eating stingingscorpion. </p><p>Thats right. She eats boogers. </p><p>Tehe. </p><p>Stay safe out there, folks.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. More Than A Job</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Days. Then the days turned into weeks. Months. He’s been gone for months. He’s been gone for months, and Agent Waverly Gibson is the unlucky soul who gets to look into it. She almost doesn’t want to know. Xavier Dolls was cautious. Smart. Good at what he does. The fact he’s missing means something way beyond his caliber got to him. Does Waverly really want to learn firsthand what that even was?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sometimes the answer is no. Other times she finds herself rushing through the streets, desperate to pry the answer from the first place she can find it in. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She stares down at the handler in the alleyway, his murdered and ditched corpse stinking up a corner behind a dumpster. Dolls could very well be the same, stuck and forgotten in a corner somewhere.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No. No, she can’t think like that. It’s Dolls! This is all a part of his plan! She totally doesn’t feel sick to her stomach right now!</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A hidden pocket in the man’s long fleece jacket brings a present to her: a map. The locations of the dead drops she needs to look into. One step closer. She’s going to find Dolls. She has to find Dolls, because he’s more than an agent to her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This is more than some assignment. Dolls is family. And family is something she’s learned she needs to grasp onto, as much as she can. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The locations aren’t numbered, just giant red circles. The encrypted messages can be in any possible order. This isn’t exactly a perfect treasure hunt, but it’s a thousand times better than Waverly having to do all the searching herself. She isn’t too sure she has the time, anyway. The patience. Each dead drop is received in a completely random order, one she can't hope to anticipate ahead of time, so she keeps a journal to try and map them out for herself. She gathers a good few before trying to play them together.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“ . . . They ended up beating the life out of me, expecting me to use mind powers I lied about. My mama always told me not to lie—I’m sure she was looking down and laughing.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Kessler. The leader’s name is Kessler. Most terrifying person I’ve ever met in my life.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The First Sons. A strange group of people dating back all the way to medieval times. Experimenting on people. Honing skills in things most people wouldn’t dream of—mentalists who could do the impossible with the power of their minds and their minds alone. Comic book shit.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Bobo Del Rey, a high-ranking member with the ability to . . .”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The Ray Sphere is the target. The unimaginable power the device holds—there’s no way in hell we can leave these people unsupervised with it. They can beat me all they want. I’m leaving here with the thing before innocents start to get killed.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I managed to convince them I was one of them. A low level mentalist. Apparently torture was supposed to unlock my highest abilities . . .” Waverly loses her breath at this one. Dolls was good at his job. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Is</span>
  </em>
  <span> good at his job. But this is too much. He could’ve gotten himself </span>
  <em>
    <span>killed </span>
  </em>
  <span>with these people.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s as far as Waverly gets for now. Just as she was starting to get good at hiking up buildings to get to half of these damned things. One minute she’s going about her business. The entire town is, busy with their own lives and their own responsibilities. Their own loved ones. Then, at the blink of an eye, everything stops. Everyone stops breathing. Even the birds in the sky stop chirping when it happens. A giant explosion, sucking all the light out of the sky before violently returning it, tenfold. Something has happened in the Historic District, and Waverly’s superiors are blowing her phone up like crazy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She was far from the Blast, but not far from the chaos. The chaos stretched for miles, not a soul managing to abstain from it. Waverly has no choice but to relocate, to run off somewhere safer for a bit. It feels like she’s on the phone for days and days as the entirety of Empire City collapses in on itself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They order Waverly to hide out where she was, in the Warren District. Everyone around her starves and collapses on the streets, where some of them will find their eternal resting place. The government can help. They can help, but all they do is send Waverly food and look the other way for everyone else. But then, not everyone is on the prowl for a super secret weapon.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It puts a bad feeling in her stomach. But that’s not the focus, here. The focus is Dolls. Moralities be damned—she has to find Xavier Dolls.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hiding out is completely destroying Waverly’s timing. She feels her anxiety spiking like crazy. Dolls is missing, now this? This giant explosion in the middle of the day? Her superiors are telling the public it was a terrorist attack. Waverly’s on the inside; this is something completely different. Houston tells her to continue to lie low, and she feels boredom start to creep into her bones. Boredom, and piercing anxiety. She finds herself pacing around the small apartment they’ve stuck her in, for hours. She’d crack a window, but outside looks like a war zone and the sight of normal people suddenly turning on one another for survival is downright depressing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Waverly’s scrolling through her journal of notes—which is starting to look like it was written by a serial killer—when her phone goes off. Not Houston. Jeremy Chetri. A friend. God, she could use a friend right now.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How’s it hangin’, Gibson?” Jeremy is nothing like the others. More relaxed. No premature gray hairs already sprouting on his head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Some people say his positivity comes from the spectrum. Waverly thinks the statement in itself is ableist, and any time anyone said that as a joke to Dolls, he let them have it. Everyone within their little team was respectful of Jeremy—it’s why he stayed. Though he was only hired in the first place because he was stuck in the wrong crowd and didn’t know any better. He’s smart, and the NSA loves that about him. He’s a computer genius, and he constantly throws himself on the ground about not being able to locate Dolls. Before Waverly left for Empire City, they had a long talk about it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m managing,” Waverly says honestly. If she’s feeling so impatient about Dolls right now, she can’t imagine how crazy Jeremy must be going. He was closer with Dolls, anyway. “I wish I wasn’t locked up right now. Are you okay, Jeremy? I haven’t heard from you in a while.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s total madness over here right now. It’s like the whole office is on fire—that explosion was crazy. I don’t think they’re entirely sure what they’re going to do with the city yet.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Give me a head’s up if they decide to nuke it.” Waverly sighs, shifting her grip on the small cell phone in her possession. “I don’t know how much longer I can sit here. I need to get back out there. Whatever Dolls was involved with—we’re wasting time. How long before another explosion goes off?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They prove to Waverly they’re still listening, because the next thing she knows, she’s given clearance to go back out into the field again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rooftop. Rooftop. Random alleyway. Balcony she almost falls off of! Waverly thinks Dolls must really mean something to her, because at this rate she’s either going to be the strongest person on the planet, or roadkill after she inevitably slips and falls, becoming a stain on the concrete. These dead drops are in absurd places, she considers. Necessary, but </span>
  <em>
    <span>absurd.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dolls was good at it all. One of the best marksmen around. He taught Waverly everything she knows. He got things done before anyone knew what was happening. Dolls has snuck into the strangest places with ease, coming back out with every detail and more the agency needed. Read people, even those most closed off, like an open book. Could come up with an escape plan the second things went wrong, always turning things in his favor. He was cool under pressure. He was a bit uptight, but he was a great mentor. Kind. There’s no way anything happened to Dolls, and the longer Waverly believes this, the more likely she is to find Dolls.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He details more dealings with the First Sons. Luckily, he spares the details on what kind of torture they were trying to induce his fake mind powers with. It’s like when her sister used to come home and tell her about her nightly affairs—don’t want to know a single detail.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kessler is a total freakshow. Dolls mentions it several times. They’re someone scary enough to intimidate Xavier Dolls, and that alone is enough to frighten Waverly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Quiet. Kessler is quiet, observant. The kind of person with a busy, plotting mind. Dolls expresses he’s not entirely sure he’d want to be trapped in Kessler’s mind, but he’ll have to try if this is going to go anywhere.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ve finally closed in on Kessler’s big goal here. What he wants with a rundown town like Empire City.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The next few dead drops are about the weird guy Dolls swears is onto him. Turns out the guy just stares at him because Dolls looks like some celebrity Dolls has never heard of. Yes, guy, a random celebrity joined the super secret cult! You figured it out!</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Piecing all these out of order dead drops together is a puzzle Waverly wishes she could find entertainment in.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then, finally, the one she’s been anticipating plays. Finally, she gets some real information to work with.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nicole R. Haught. A bike courier. Generally a nobody. Kessler was hyper focused on her. Kessler made sure she had the Ray Sphere. Kessler called her and told her to open it, and she did. Stupid.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It took blocks of the Historic District, and countless other lives. Threw a city onto its knees. Whoever this Nicole Haught is, she has to be the most important person in the world for any of this to happen. Waverly cracks open her laptop and gets researching. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Nicole Haught is the most boring person in the world.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>On social media, there’s almost nothing. Everything posted on all of her pages are things other people have tagged her in. Mostly nature scenes and hikes. Not much of a record otherwise. Couple fights in grade school. No college history. Bike courier in a busy city, weaving through traffic like it was a game. Nicole knows parkour, a practiced hand in urban exploration. She has a roommate. Wynonna Earp.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Waverly decides to skip over the roommate part. In fact, she leaves it out of her reports entirely. No one cares who Nicole’s roommate is. Certainly not Waverly. Nope! She doesn’t care that it’s Wynonna Earp at all!</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Girlfriend. Shae Pressman. There’s a different name on Shae’s birth certificate, before she changed it to something more honest to her person. Waverly can respect that. Medically licensed EMT. Sort of a superhero around Empire City right now, treating people undoubtedly to her own exhaustion.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Attractive. Both of these women are ridiculously attractive and Waverly has to snap out of a trance multiple times before recentering her focus. And staring again. It’s so horribly unprofessional. It’s unprofessional, and definitely not the goal here, but she can’t get them out of her head. She knows it’s wrong and yet . . .</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Apparently Houston senses her motives, the need deep inside to meet and stare at the pretty women, because Waverly receives orders. Do not intervene. Monitor these individuals. And whatever she does, do not interact with Wynonna Earp.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No problem, on that last part. Nothing to worry about.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Nicole Haught and Wynonna Earp make things pretty simple for Waverly. They spend most of their time on the roof of their apartment building, rather than tucked away inside. Wynonna has a whole setup here—one that Waverly tries not to be impressed by—and manages to find luxury despite the chaos around them. The people of the city, turning on each other. A strange gang attacking people and coughing up weird black tar all over the city, shooting at anything that moves. But then, what else can a person expect after a whole city randomly explodes because of a bike courier’s delivery? Certainly not normalcy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The bike courier in question recovers from being the causation and center of the Blast, roaming around the more days pass. Wynonna just sits around, in a way that irritates Waverly deeply. She tries to brush it off. Houston tries to contact her once, and she realizes she’s lost in thought when she misses the call. She gets chewed out, and she doesn’t really argue with it. Then she gets chewed out yet again for not paying attention, because she’s studying the features on the subject’s face. Nicole Haught has a habit of pulling her red beanie down. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Very </span>
  </em>
  <span>professional, Agent Gibson.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Wynonna has Nicole interact with homemade batteries for her TV. Waverly takes her notes. Subject’s abilities are getting better. Subject is feeling more confident with them, though she still looks cautious. Waverly theorizes Nicole harmed someone by accident. Not like sudden electricity powers would be the simplest thing to use.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Nicole Haught jumps off the side of the roof and Waverly feels her heart stop. Then the subject rises from the ground, happy about her superhuman powers. Waverly almost screams in frustration.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Food drop goes south. Nicole and Wynonna are at a loss, until Nicole puts her parkour to use and starts climbing the structure the food is stuck on. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The tar-mouth gang has sprouted in the region. The Reapers, they like to call themselves. Whatever stupid name they have, Waverly will dislike them the same. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Nicole Haught gets to work with her powers, protecting everyone she possibly can. Wynonna has gotten herself a giant revolver from someone in town, but Waverly can’t focus on that right now. Or the careless way the woman she totally doesn’t care about shoots. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Reapers clear out, leaving the people and the food. Nicole stands there, almost contemplating. Ultimately, she lets them take the food. She could’ve used her powers, scared them off, hoarded the whole, but she doesn’t. She stands there and lets her fellow starving humans rummage through a drop that was ultimately pointless, anyhow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There’s a sick feeling in Waverly’s stomach. Last night she ate well with the rations she was given. If her bosses can get food to her, why not everyone else?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She has to focus. She sees Nicole's beautiful girlfriend enter the scene and suddenly she can’t look away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Another one of the million things that has popped up in this downright apocalyptic setting is the Voice of Reason guy. The conspiracy guy. Because of </span>
  <em>
    <span>course.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The whole square turns on Nicole in an instant, as the man reveals she’s the one that opened the package. Nicole is the reason they’re all stuck here, in hell. The reason they’ve lost their loved ones. Even Shae starts to back away. Wynonna approaches Nicole about leaving, but even then she seems hesitant. Like she, too, is debating. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Waverly doesn’t focus on what happens next. She’s too busy thinking about Wynonna Earp’s loyalties. At least she didn’t run away. Not this time. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Waverly moves on.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Nicole goes to one of the many makeshift clinics popping around this battlefield of a town. It’s hard to imagine this place as a town anymore; Waverly’s been staring at the death and destruction for so long the picture just won’t paint in her head. People used to live here? Take their kids to the park? Walk their dogs? Date nights in apartments? Impromptu lunch with friends? Bizarre. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s downright depressing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Someone meets up with Nicole at this location. They don’t look entirely thrilled as they exchange conversation with Nicole. Eventually things end and the whole place turns into a showdown. The new normal for Empire City. Nicole takes on Reapers, testing what appear to be new abilities that Waverly jots down. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When the scene settles, Nicole finds a new conflict. Shae Pressman. Nothing between them appears civil. Waverly can’t describe the encounter as pleasant, or the way two lovers are meant to interact. Certainly not the way she’d—</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Focus, Waverly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She finds herself taking note of Nicole when the conversation ends. Wiping her face before heading home. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dead drops from Dolls. Dead drops Waverly starts to create, because there’s always that chance Dolls is out there, waiting. Maybe he needs help. Maybe this is all an elaborate prank and Dolls is sitting on an island somewhere in his shorts. Who knows! </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A problem rises. Nicole is talking to someone. Someone is guiding her throughout Empire City, and Waverly has no idea who it is. Nicole takes one of the dead drops on Waverly’s map and manages to get through the encryption, breaking the code and listening for herself with extraordinarily little effort. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Who the heck invited you, anyway?” Waverly mumbles. Stupid, super hot super powered woman. She pulls out her own phone to tell Houston. Somehow Nicole is getting past their security. Waverly doubts she found the location by mistake, too. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Something’s going on here. Something </span>
  <em>
    <span>wrong</span>
  </em>
  <span> is going on here, and Waverly—</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Waverly dives behind the railing on the balcony. Nicole Haught noticed her. She waits a minute, before peeking over the railing. Eventually Nicole gives up, looking away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before anything else can happen, Waverly flees the scene. “That could’ve gone better,” she mumbles, anxiously making her way through the streets. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Have some Earp sisters angst to spice up your Tuesday. And some trans!shae for the soul, on me</p>
<p>I hope you enjoyed this installment of this AU. We appreciate every single one of you for reading. </p>
<p>-scorp</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Catch us on Twitter<br/> </p><p>  <a href="https://twitter.com/RJAwritesathing">StingingScorpion</a></p><p> </p><p>  <a href="https://twitter.com/DorianGrath">DorianMcgrath</a></p><p> </p><p>  <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/14cucYU2xLfAssJIcoWABd?si=RuByRmfxQm2z3TtUYdWQyw">Here is the playlist.</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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